BX  8733    .B377  1878 
Barrett,   B.   F.  1808-1892 
Swedenborg  and  Channing 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/swedenborgchanniOObarr 


SWEDENBORG 


AND 


CHANNING. 


SHOWING 


THE  MANY  AND  REMARKABLE  AGREEMENTS 
IN  THE  BELIEFS  AND  TEACHINGS 
OF  THESE  WRITERS. 


J  BY 

B.  F.  BARRETT. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
THE  SWEDENBORG  ^PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION, 
900  Chestnut  Street. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1878,  by 

CLAXTON,  REMSEN  &  HAFFELFINGER, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Ipte  ijjnHarian  denomination  in  J[mmca: 

A  RELIGIOUS  BODY 

with  which  the  author  once  had  the  happiness  to  be  con- 
nected, and  to  which  he  gratefully  acknowledges  a  large 
indebtedness ;  which  early  taught  him  the  proper 
function  of  reason  in  religion,  the  meaning  and 
value  of  religious  liberty,  and  the  importance 
of  reverently  heeding  the  whispers  of  the 
Spirit;  and  whose  inculcations  through 
pulpit  and  press,  and  at  its  excellent 
Divinity  School,  encouraged  a  free 
and  earnest  search  after  truth, 
and  gave  new  emphasis  to 
the  Apostolic  injunction, 

"  Prove-  all  things ;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good" 

THIS  VOLUME 


CONTENTS. 


THEOLOGY.  PAGH 

I.  Introduction  21 

II.  Religious  Liberty   28 

III.  Reason  in  Religion  Vindicated      .      .  .35 

IV.  State  of  the  Church  40 

V.  Tripersonality  of  God  47 

VI.  The  Character  of  God  ....  51 

VII.  Union  with  and  Likeness  to  God  .      .  .54 
VIII.  What  it  is  to  Love  God  59 
IX.  The  Essential  Thing  in  Religion  .      .  .63 

X.  Catholicity  69 

XL  The  Church  Universal  72 

XII.  Variety  in  the  Church  74 

XIII.  The  True  Worship  76 

XIV.  God's  End  in  Creation.        .      .      .  79 

XV.  The  Resurrection  83 

XVI.  Charity,  or  Love  of  the  Neighbor  .  .  86 
XVII.  Salvation  for  the  Heathen    .      .  .  90 

XVIII.  The  True  Freedom  95 

XIX.  The  Letter  and  the  Spirit     .      .      .  .98 
XX.  The  New  Age  and  its  Influence        .      .  041 

XXI.  Remission  of  Sins  107 

XXII.  Salvation:  its  Meaning  and  Nature  .      .  110 

XXIII.  The  Blood  of  Christ  115 

XXIV.  The  Cross:  and  What  it  Symbolizes  .      .  121 
XXV.  Religion  without  Asceticism   .      .      .  -127 

XXVI.  Sin  :  its  Nature  131 

XXVII.  Estimate  of  Calvinism  134 

XXVIII.  Faith  136 

XXIX.  Heaven  and  Hell  within  Men       .      .      .  143 

XXX.  The  Love  of  Use  148 

XXXI.  Prayer  151 

XXXII.  Seeing  and  Knowing  God      ....  154 

XXXIII.  Our  Heavenly  Father  158 

XXXIV.  The  Holy  Spirit  161 

XXXV.  Repentance  and  Regeneration       .      .      .  167 

XXXVI.  True  Religion  .      .  .172 

XXXVII.  Happiness    .  .      .  .177 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PNE  UMA  TOL  OGY.  PACB 
XXXVIII.  Definite  Views  of  the  Hereafter      .      .  185 
XXXIX.  Connection  of  the  Natural  with  the  Spir- 
itual World  193 

XL.  Man  the  Germ  of  the  Future  Angel  .       .  200 
XLI.  What  we  Carry  to  the  Other  World  .      .  202 
XLII.  Our  Senses  in  the  Hereafter     .      .      .  204 
XL1II.  Recognition  of  Friends  in  the  Other  Life  .  206 
XLIV.  Glorifying  God  in  Heaven   .      .      .      .  207 

XLV.  Ministry  of  Angels  209 

XLVI.  No  Homesickness  in  Heaven        .      .      .  212 

XLVII.  Government  in  Heaven  215 

XLVIII.  The  Social  Economy  of  Heaven  .      .  .217 

XLIX.  Variety  in  Heaven  219 

L.  Heaven  a  Life  of  Active  Usefulness  .      .  222 
LI.  Ceaseless  Progress  in  Heaven        .       .       .  225 
LII.  Heaven  a  Blissful  Communion     .      .      .  227 
LIII.  Enlarged  Powers  and  Wisdom  of  the  Angels  .  229 

LIV.  Future  Retribution  232 

LV.  Correspondence  Between  the  Inner  and  Outer 

Man  in  the  Hereafter     ....  238 
LVI.  Correspondence  Between  the  Spirit  and  its 

Surroundings  in  the  Hereafter  .      .  241 

CHRISTOLOGY. 

LVII.  Swedenborg's  View  of  Christ  ....  249 

Apparently  Different  from  Channing's      .       .  253 

What  Channing  Really  Worshiped    .       .  .255 

Assimilation  to  Christ   262 

By  whom  is  Christ  best  Understood     .       .  .  263 

Christ  the  Emancipator  from  Evil    .       .       .  265 

Christ  the  Embodiment  of  his  Religion      .  .  266 

Channing  not  a  Humanitarian         .       .       .  269 

Christ's  Character  the  Grand  Miracle  .       .  .271 

Christ  Exalted  to  Universal  Empire        .       .  272 

Miraculous  Conception  of  Christ        .       .  .  273 

Believed  also  in  his  Pre-Existence  .  .  274 
Views  Practically  Considered      ....  278 

Channing's  Christology  Summarized       .       .  280 

LVIII.  Conclusion  285 


PREFACE. 


O  person  of  tolerable  candor,  and  able  to  appreciate 


l\l  the  highest  human  excellence,  can  read  the  life  of  Wil- 
liam Ellery  Channing,  without  being  impressed  with  the 
conviction  that  a  truer,  nobler,  braver,  wiser,  saintlier  man 
than  he,  or  one  more  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  truth  and  righteousness,  never  adorned  the  American 
pulpit.  Men  may  dissent  from  his  theological  views,  but 
I  see  not  how  it  is  possible  for  honest  and  right-minded 
people  to  differ  as  to  his  rare  purity,  simplicity,  elevation 
and  breadth  of  character. 

And  from  every  authentic  'account  we  have  of  Swe- 
denborg's  life,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  in  purity,  spir- 
ituality and  general  excellence  of  character,  and  in  steady 
and  ever-increasing  devotion  to  the  highest  and  noblest 
ends,  he  was  in  no  respect  inferior  to  Channing ;  while 
in  respect  to  intellectual,  and  especially  scientific  acquire- 
ments, he  was  vastly  superior  to  him. 

The  agreements  in  the  beliefs  and  teachings  of  these 
writers,  as  shown  in  the  following  pages,  are  so  numerous 
and  so  close,  as  naturally  to  awaken  the  suspicion  —  in 
some  minds,  at  least  —  that  Channing  read  and  drew  ex- 
tensively from  Swedenborg, —  coming  as  he  did  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  after  him.  I  have  therefore  deemed 
it  important,  and  a  duty  also,  to  give  this  point  careful 


ix 


X 


PREFACE. 


consideration.  Having  done  so,  and  having  reached  the 
conclusion  that  he  did  not  consciously  derive  any  of  his 
beliefs  from  Swedenborg,  and  never  even  read  him  with 
any  interest,  I  will  briefly  lay  before  the  reader  the  evi- 
dence which  has  forced  me  to  this  conviction. 

i.  I  have  inquired  of  persons  who  were  on  terms  of 
closest  intimacy  with  Dr.  Channing,  and  who,  if  he  had 
ever  been  an  interested  reader  of  Swedenborg,  would  un- 
doubtedly have  known  it.  Among  these  I  may  mention 
the  name  of  his  nephew,  Rev.  W.  H.  Channing,  and  that 
of  his  own  son,  Dr.  William  F.  Channing.  The  former 
wrote  the  Memoir  which  I  had  occasion  often  to  quote 
in  the  preparation  of  the  present  work.  And  in  reply  to 
a  letter  of  inquiry  from  me,  he  says :  — 

"As  you  rightly  suppose,  my  uncle's  MSS.  have  all 
passed  under  my  inspection,  and  my  memories  are  still 
vivid  of  years  of  most  confidential  intercourse  with  him. 
If  he  had  ever  been  a  reader  of  Swedenborg,  it  therefore 
seems  highly  probable  that  the  fact  must  have  come  to  my 
knowledge.  But  so  far  as  my  recollection  goes,  neither 
in  his  conversations  nor  in  his  writings  did  my  uncle  ever 
refer  to  him,  or  make  the  least  allusion  to  his  life  or  doc- 
trines. Unless,  therefore,  you  have  access  to  means  of 
information  unknown  to  me,  my  judgment  is,  that  you 
should  be  very  guarded  in  grouping  Dr.  C.  with  the  re- 
ligious teachers  of  our  age,  who  have  been  influenced  in 
the  formation  of  their  views  by  the  illustrious  Seer  of 
Sweden. 

"This  judgment  of  mine  may  appear  to  you  more 
trustworthy,  from  the  consideration  that  I  have  been  a 
student  of  Swedenborg's  writings  even  from  my  college 
days;  and  though  not  a  'receiver'  of  his  theology  or  his 
philosophy  in  a  sense  that  would  entitle  me  to  be  called 


PREFACE. 


xi 


one  of  his  'disciples,'  yet  I  am  always  gratefully  glad  to 
acknowledge  my  deep  obligations  to  him  as  a  spiritual 
and  intellectual  benefactor." 

And  the  son  of  Dr.  Channing,  in  answer  to  a  letter  of 
inquiry  as  to  his  father's  knowledge  and  opinion  of  Swe- 
denborg,  after  premising  that  he  spoke  with  great  cau- 
tion, writes : — 

"I  can  say,  however,  that  his  view  agreed  with  the 
prevalent  one,  that  Swedenborg  was  a  visionary,  in  so  far 
as  his  claim  to  special  inspiration  or  illumination  is  con- 
cerned. My  father  was  a  conscientious  student  of  re- 
ligious history,  and  undoubtedly  read  what  was  in  print 
and  ordinarily  obtainable  in  this  country  up  to  1842,  con- 
cerning Swedenborg.  I  have  an  impression  that  there 
was  one  volume  of  Swedenborg  in  his  library.  If  so,  I 
think  it  must  have  been  either  the  Divine  Love  and  Wis- 
dom, Divine  Providence,.  Heaven  and  Hell,  or  Conjugial 
Love.    I  cannot  at  present  ascertain. 

"  Mrs.  Anna  Cora  Mowatt  has  reported  a  conversation 
with  my  father  about  Swedenborg,  which  took  place  at 
Lenox  in  the  summer  of  1842.  This  is  a  definite,  au- 
thentic report,  colored,  of  course,  by  Mrs.  Mowatt's  per- 
sonality." 

In  another  letter  of  later  date  (July  22d,  1878),  the  son 
writes,  in  answer  to  further  inquiries  on  the  same  subject :  — 

"  On  the  principal  question  raised  in  your  letter  there 
can  be  no  possible  doubt.  My  father  could  have  drawn 
very  little  directly  from  Swedenborg,  as  he  never  made 
him  a  study,  nor  expressed  interest  in,  or  obligation  to,  his 
works, — as  he  would  have  done  if  Swedenborg's  writings 
had  been  to  him  a  conscious  source  of  new  truth. 

"  Whether  he  read  a  little  more  or  a  little  less  of  Swe- 
denborg's writings,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  drew 


xii 


PREFACE. 


little  directly  from  them,  knew  them  but  little,  and  therefore 
valued  them  little, —  measured  by  your  standard  or  mine. 

"  I  have  the  impression  that  there  was  a  hard  and  nar- 
row sectarian  exposition  of  Swedenborg  in  Boston  during 
my  father's  life,  which  very  probably  helped  to  obscure  to 
him  what  I  have  since  learned  to  consider  Swedenborg's 
grand  contributions  to  modern  thought,  theology  aside.  I 
mention  my  own  view  only  to  show  that  I  look  on  my 
father  objectively,  and  am  scrupulously  careful  not  to  see 
him  through  the  medium  of  any  sympathies  or  ideas  of 
my  own." 

The  following  is  Mrs.  Mowatt's  report  of  the  conversa- 
tion she  had  with  Dr.  Channing  about  Swedenborg,  only 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death.  Mrs.  M.  and  her  husband 
were  boarding  at  the  same  hotel  with  Dr.  C.  and  his  fam- 
ily ;  and  she  says  :  — 

"  One  day  I  was  sitting  on  the  piazza,  reading  aloud  to 
Mr.  Mowatt.  The  book  was  Swedenborg's  Divine  Provi- 
dence. A  slight  movement  behind  my  chair  caused  me  to 
turn.  Dr.  Channing  was  leaning  against  the  open  door, 
apparently  listening.  He  told  me  to  go  on,  and  I  had 
no  excuse  for  not  Obeying.  I  read  for  some  time  uninter- 
ruptedly. At  length  he  accosted  me  with,  '  Do  you  un- 
derstand what  you  are  reading  ?  ' 

"I  replied,  'I  think  I  do.' 

"  '  Do  you  believe  it  ?  ' 

"'Yes.' 

'•' '  What  makes  you  believe  it? ' 
"  '  Because  /  can't  help  it.' 

"  'That's  a  woman's  reason,'  he  answered,  laughing; 
'  but  I  believe  it  is  the  strongest  you  could  give.' 

"  He  then  told  me  that  he  had  read  a  portion  of  Sweden- 
borg's works  with  great  attention,  and  he  reverenced  the 


PREFACE. 


xiii 


author,  although  the  doctrines  had  not,  as  yet,  earned  the 
same  conviction  to  his  mind  as  they  had  done  to  ours." — 
Autobiography  of  an  Actress,  pp.  182,  '3. 

So  much  for  personal  testimony  on  the  question  before 
us.  And  after  giving  it  all  the  weight  to  which  it  is  fairly 
entitled,  and  considering  what  deduction  may  properly  be 
made  from  Mrs.  Mowatt's  report  on  account  of  her  pas- 
sionate admiration  of  Swedenborg,  and  her  pardonable 
desire,  therefore,  to  have  it  believed  that  Dr.  Channing 
also  had  read  some  of  his  works  "  with  great  attention  " 

—  she  does  not  say,  "  with  great  interest,"  —  it  amounts 
simply  to  this :  That  Dr.  Channing  had  the  then  prevail- 
ing impression  in  regard  to  Swedenborg;  that  he  had 
never  read  him  enough  to  become  at  all  interested  in  his 
teachings,  or  even  to  understand  him ;  that  he  regarded 
him  as  an  amiable  and  honest  visionary,  to  whose  writings 
he  attached  little  or  no  value,  and  from  which,  therefore, 
he  did  not  consciously  draw  any  new  or  valuable  truth. 

2.  Then  another  and  different  line  of  argument  forces 
us  to  the  same  conclusion.    Briefly  stated,  it  is  this  :  — 

Dr.  Channing  was  known  to  be  remarkable  alike  for 
honesty,  simplicity,  independence  and  perfect  frankness 
of  character.  He  was  not  a  man  of  policy,  but  of  un- 
swerving principle.  He  was  not  a  cunning  man  in  the 
popular  acceptation  of  this  word.  He  practiced  none  of 
the  arts  of  concealment, —  indeed,  he  seemed  a  total 
stranger  to  all  such  arts.  His  nature,  too,  was  as  generous 
as  it  was  honest  and  frank.    No  man  was  ever  more  ready 

—  more  glad,  indeed  —  than  he,  to  award  to  every  indi- 
vidual due  meed  of  praise  for  any  and  every  valuable  con- 
tribution made  by  him  to  the  common  stock  of  knowl- 

2 


xiv 


PREFACE. 


edge,  and  particularly  to  the  stock  of  religious  ideas.  Il 
is  therefore  inconceivable  —  nay,  impossible  —  that  one 
of  his  frank  and  generous  nature,  could  have  read  Swe- 
denborg  with  such  interest  and  to  such  extent  as  to  draw 
from  him  the  larger  portion  of  his  best  thought,  and  the 
chief  staple  of  his  theology,  and  die  without  leaving  any 
record  of  his  conscious  obligation  to  the  illustrious  Swede  ; 
—  yes,  without  revealing  to  his  own  family  or  other  bosom 
friends,  any  particular  interest  in  the  great  seer's  writings, 
or  even  letting  them  know  that  he  ever  read  these  writings 
to  any  extent. 

3.  Then,  we  nowhere  find  in  Dr.  Channing's  writings 
the  slightest  reference  to,  or  the  briefest  quotation  from, 
Swedenborg.  Indeed,  I  am  not  aware  that  he  has  ever 
mentioned  his  name.  And  there  is  nothing  in  his  phrase- 
ology —  not  a  sentence  or  word  to  remind  one  of  the  great 
seer,  or  to  indicate  any  familiarity  with  his  writings. 

Yet  the  undeniable  fact  remains  —  and  the  proof  of  it 
is  presented  in  the  present  volume — that  on  fifty-five  dif- 
ferent subjects,  covering  almost  the  entire  domain  of  theo- 
logical doctrine,  and  embracing  points  of  vital  interest 
and  importance,  the  teachings  of  these  men  are  substantial- 
ly the  same,  differing  only  in  form  or  phraseology.  There 
is  almost  a  perfect  coincidence  of  thought,  along  with  a 
wide  difference  in  expression.  And  what  will  add  to  the 
reader's  wonder,  is  this  other  fact,  that,  on  nearly  every 
one  of  these  points,  whi)e  Swedenborg  and  Channing  are 
in  such  close  agreement,  they  both  differ  widely  from  the 
generally  accepted  creeds  of  their  own  day,  and  of  pre- 
ceding centuries.  How,  then,  are  their  many  and  re- 
markable agreements  to  be  accounted  for,  unless  the  latter 
drew  largely  from  the  writings  of  the  former? 


PREFACE. 


XV 


Swedenborg  himself,  I  think,  furnishes  a  satisfactory 
answer  to  this  question.  He  assures  us  that  every  one 
who  acknowledges  the  Divine  and  cherishes  a  sincere 
reverence  for  the  Word,  receives  enlightenment  from  the 
Lord  —  a  kind  of  internal  revelation  —  more  or  less  clear 
and  abundant  in  proportion  to  the  individual's  freedom 
from  the  blinding  influence  of  dogma,  to  the  intensity  and 
purity  of  his  desire  for  truth,  and  the  depth  and  sincerity 
of  his  devotion  to  all  known  duty.  Speaking  of  this  class 
of  persons  who  receive  "revelation  from  the  Divine — ■ 
not  by  a  sonorous  voice,  but  inwardly,"  he  says  :  — 

"This  revelation  is  made  by  an  enlightenment  of  the 
internal  sight  which  is  the  understanding,  when  a  man 
who  is  in  the  affection  of  truth  from  good,  reads  the  Word. 
On  such  occasion  enlightenment  is  effected  by  the  light 
of  heaven,  which  is  from  the  Lord  as  a  Sun  there.  When 
the  understanding  is  illumined  by  this  Divine  light,  it 
then  perceives  that  to  be  true  which  is  true,  inwardly 
acknowledges  it,  and  as  it  were  sees  it."  (A.  C,  n.  8780.) 

"Revelation  means  enlightenment  when  the  Word  is 
read,  and  consequent  perception  of  truth.  All  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  Word  in  its  internal  sense,  treat  of  the 
Lord  and  his  kingdom  ;  and  the  angels  attendant  on  man 
perceive  the  Word  according  to  this  sense.  This  percep- 
tion is  communicated  to  the  man  who  is  in  good,  and 
who  reads  the  Word  with  an  ardent  desire  for  truth. 
Hence  he  has  enlightenment, —  the  intellectual  faculty  of 
his  mind  being  open  into  heaven,  and  his  internal  man  in 
consort  with  the  angels."    (Ibid.,  n.  8694.) 

Here  we  have  the  all-sufficient  explanation  of  the  mar- 
velous agreements  pointed  out  in  the  teachings  of  these 
writers.  Both  were  humble  and  independent  minds,  free 
from  the  domination  of  sect  or  creed.    Both  were  devout 


xvi 


PREFACE. 


and  earnest  seekers  after  truth,  and  both  lived  up  right  and 
blameless  lives.  Both  loved  and  honored  the  Word  of 
God,  and  reverently  listened  to  the  whisperings  of  the 
Spirit.  Therefore  their  interiors  were  open  (in  different 
degrees,  however)  to  the  illuminating  influences  of  heaven, 
and  the  souls  of  both  consorted  with  the  angels.  Seeing, 
therefore,  by  a  kindred  light,  it  is  not  strange  that  they 
should  have  seen  many  things  pertaining  to  the  higher 
reason  —  many  of  the  truths  of  heaven  —  so  nearly  alike. 
It  is,  indeed,  precisely  what  might  have  been  expected. 

But  here  I  must  not  neglect  to  say  that  the  quotations 
made  from  these  two  writers  in  the  following  pages,  can 
give  the  reader  no  adequate  conception  of  their  relative 
degree  of  spiritual  enlightenment.  In  many  instances 
where  I  have  given  but  one  or  two  brief  extracts  from 
Swedenborg,  I  might  have  quoted  many  pages  equally 
interesting  and  instructive,  and  in  further  elucidation  of 
the  same  subject.  And  on  hundreds  of  other  subjects 
about  which  we  find  nothing  whatever  in  Channing, 
Swedenborg  has  written  with  such  a  degree  of  fulness  and 
such  a  measure  and  depth  of  wisdom,  as  compel  me  to 
admit  that  his  illumination  was  extraordinary  and  special, 
and  vastly  superior  to  that  of  Channing.  I  say  this,  after 
a  careful  reading  and  thoughtful  study  of  the  writings  of 
both ;  and  I  say  it  not  in  any  sectarian  spirit,  or  in  the 
interest  of  any  particular  denomination  —  for  I  do  not 
belong  to  any  —  but  in  the  interest  of  that  new  and 
rational  Christianity  which  so  many  have  long  been  wait- 
ing for,  and  which  has  already  begun  to  gladden  and 
bless  all  open,  free  and  reverent  souls. 

It  is  more  than  a  hundred  years  since  the  illustrious 


PREFACE. 


xvii 


Swede  passed  from  the  scene  of  his  earthly  labors.  And 
although  the  world  has  meanwhile  been  making  unex- 
ampled progress  in  knowledge,  civilization,  intellectual 
and  moral  culture,  yet  his  theological  writings  were  never 
so  much  sought  after,  so  extensively  read  and  so  highly 
prized  by  religious  teachers,  as  at  the  present  day:  This 
is  a  well-known  fact  —  and  it  is  a  fact  of  immense  signifi- 
cance, and  worthy  of  consideration  by  all  thoughtful 
minds.  And  another  fact  of  like  significance,  is :  That 
all  the  best  tendencies  of  religious  thought  and  feeling  for 
the  last  half  century  —  tendencies  toward  larger  liberty, 
broader  views,  more  charitable  judgments,  a  kindlier 
spirit  and  a  higher  unity  —  have  been  and  still  continue  in 
the  direct  line  of  Swedenborg's  inculcations.  Every  ad- 
vanced step  taken  by  individuals  or  churches,  is  a  step 
towards  the  theology  and  philosophy  of  the  Swedish  sage. 

There  is  one  other  question  which  I  would  affectionately 
urge  the  students  of  Channing  to  consider,  who  are  dis- 
posed to  doubt  or  deny  Swedenborg's  claim  to  any  special 
illumination,  and  particularly  his  claim  to  a  long  and  open 
intercourse  with  the  denizens  of  the  other  world  ;  and  it 
is  this :  Do  the  extracts  from  his  writings  on  the  various 
topics  considered  in  this  volume,  read  like  the  ravings  of 
a  monomaniac  ?  —  for  such,  or  something  worse  —  an  im- 
postor —  he  surely  must  have  been,  if  there  was  no  valid 
foundation  for  such  a  claim.  Or,  is  it  conceivable  that  a 
man  could  rise  up  in  a  period  of  such  darkness  as  pre- 
vailed a  hundred  years  ago,  and  publish  all  the  grand 
truths  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  gifted 
Channing — yes,  and  a  hundred  times  more,  without  some 
extraordinary  help  from  on  High?  —  without  some  such 
2*  B 


xviii 


PREFACE. 


special  illumination  as  that  which  he  persistently  claimed  ? 
Or  is  it  conceivable,  again,  that  one  who  rose  so  far  above 
the  thick  darkness  of  the  last  century,  as  the  quotations 
from  his  writings  in  this  volume  clearly  prove  (and  these 
might  be  increased  a  hundred  fold),  could,  at  the  very 
time  he  was  writing  these  paragraphs  of  sober,  solid, 
common  sense,  be  under  such  a  strange  hallucination  that 
he  could  not  distinguish  facts  from  fancies?  —  knew  not 
the  difference  between  objective  realities  and  subjective 
states?  —  mistook  his  own  mental  conceptions  for  the 
veritable  forms  and  voices  of  angels?  —  and  therefore 
believed  that  he  saw  and  conversed  with  the  denizens  of 
the  other  world,  when  he  was  merely  holding  communion 
with  his  own  vivid  imaginings.  And  all  this,  remember, 
not  during  the  period  of  life  when  imagination  is  wont  to 
take  her  highest  flights,  but  at  the  advanced  age  of  sixty, 
seventy,  and  eighty  years,  when  she  generally  folds  her 
wings  and  accepts  the  guidance  of  sober  reason  ! 

Now  is  this  reasonable,  or  even  conceivable  ?  If  not, 
then  a  veritable  revelation  of  transcendent  interest  and 
importance  has  actually  been  made  through  Swedenborg ; 
—  a  revelation  not  only  of  the  deeper  spiritual  meanings 
of  God's  Word,  but  of  the  nature,  laws  and  phenomena 
of  the  spiritual  world.  But  this  revelation  is  one  which 
addresses  itself  to  our  rational  intuitions,  and  asks  to  be 
received  on  no  other  ground  than  that  of  its  intrinsic 
truth  and  reasonableness.  And  of  this,  every  one  must 
judge  for  himself,  and  form  his  own  conclusion. 

B.  F.  B. 

Germantown,  July  29,  1878. 


THEOLOGY. 


xix 


ABBREVIATIONS 


OF  THE  TITLES  OF  SWEDENBORGS  WORKS  QUOTED  IN  THE 
FOLLOWING  PAGES. 


A.  C. 

stand  for  Arcana  Ccelestise. 

Ap.  Ex. 

"       Apocalypse  Explained. 

A.  R. 

"       Apocalypse  Revealed. 

H.  H. 

"       Heaven  and  Hell. 

T.  C.  R. 

"       True  Christian  Religion. 

C.  L. 

"       Conjugial  Love. 

B.  E. 

' '       Brief  Exposition  of  N.  C.  Doctrines. 

D.  F. 

"       Doctrine  of  Faith. 

D.  L. 

"       Doctrine  of  Life. 

D.  S.  S. 

"       Doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Scripture. 

L.  J. 

"       Last  Judgment. 

Contin.  L.  J. 

"       Continuation  of  Last  Judgment. 

I. 

"  Influx. 

D.  W. 

"       Divine  Wisdom. 

XX 


Jaabiv/  fans 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 

THEOLOGY. 
I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

TT  is  sufficiently  apparent  to  all  thoughtful  minds, 
*■  not  only  that  the  world  moves,  but  that  it  has 
been  moving  for  the  last  hundred  years  at  an  unu- 
sually rapid  rate.  Stupendous  changes  have  taken 
place  within  that  time,  in  almost  every  department 
of  human  thought  and  every  sphere  of  human  ac- 
tivity,—  changes  not  only  in  literature,  science,  phi- 
losophy, the  mechanic  arts,  commercial  intercourse, 
and  industrial  processes,  but  changes  in  men's  inte- 
rior and  most  solemn  convictions — in  their  theolog- 
ical and  religious  opinions.  True,  there  has  been 
no  great  change  in  the  written  creeds.  These  re- 
main for  the  most  part  substantially  as  they  were. 
But  the  prevailing  religious  beliefs  of  men  are  not 
what  they  were  a  century  ago.  These  have  changed, 
and  are  rapidly  changing  still.  Abundant  evidence 
of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  most  popular  preaching 
of  our  times,  in  religious  journals  of  largest  influ- 
.  21 


22  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


ence  and  widest  circulation,  and  in  all  our  best  and 
most  acceptable  religious  literature. 

While  I  am  writing,  one  of  our  largest  and  most 
popular  religious  weeklies  {The  Christian  Union)  is 
laid  upon  my  table,  containing  a  remarkable  sermon 
on  the  signs  of  the  times  by  one  of  our  ablest  living 
preachers,  as  well  as  one  of  the  closest  observers  of 
the  tides  and  tendencies  of  popular  belief — both 
religious  and  irreligious  —  from  which  I  quote  the 
following,  which  is  directly  in  the  line  of  my  own 
thought :  — 

"  A  change  is  going  on  with  respect  to  the  faith 
of  men  in  regard  to  many  fundamental  points  of 
religious  truth,  and  in  regard  to  the  whole  system 
of  educatory  influences  that  springs  up  out  of  these. 
It  is  a  change  which  all  sects  recognize.  The 
Roman  Catholic  observes  it  with  that  clearness  of 
vision  which  it  has  had  in  every  age.  Protestants 
recognize  it  —  those  who  dread  it  and  those  who 
like  it.  It  is  admitted  in  many  directions  by  men 
who  declare  that  the  old  things  are  passed  away, 
and  that  all  things  are  become  new.  .  .  . 

"This  fluctuation  of  men  [in  their  religious  be- 
liefs] ;  this  wishing  on  their  part  that  they  knew 
exactly  what  is  true ;  this  sober  and  mournful  regret 
that  they  find  themselves  sliding  away  from  the  old 
grounds  of  their  fathers  and  grandfathers  ;  this  occa- 
sional plucking  up  of  their  loins  and  drawing  the 
girdle  tighter  that  they  may  keep  what  they  have 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


got  —  this  is  all  indicative  of  the  change  that  has 
gone  on,  and  is  going  on. 

"  This  change  is  not  narrow  ;  it  is  not  locaf;  it  is 
not  transient.  It  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  march, 
of  an  advance,  and  of  an  advance  as  great  as  that 
of  Judaism  over  Media  and  over  Assyria;  as  great 
as  that  of  Christianity  over  Judaism ;  as  great  as 
that  of  Roman  Christianity  over  Roman  idolatry ; 
and  as  great  as  that  of  the  Reformation  over  that 
of  the  hierarchal  system  of  the  medieval  age." 

Now  a  change  so  great  and  manifest,  so  wide  and 
comprehensive  in  its  reach,  so  steady  and  majestic 
in  its  march,  would  seem  (would  it  not  ?)  to  indicate 
the  dawn  of  a  New  Era.  It  is  precisely  what  might 
be  expected  to  result  from  a  New,  Dispensation  of 
religious  truth,  or  the  promised  advent  of  Him  who 
is  the  Truth  itself,  and  who  is  beginning  to  break 
through  the  clouds  of  the  letter  with  a  brightness 
that  dazzles  and  a  power  that  awes  ;  —  "  coming," 
agreeable  to  his  own  prediction,  "  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven  with  power  and  great  glory." 

That  there  is  some  deep  and  adequate  cause  for  the 
change  here  referred  to,  no  one  can  doubt.  Some 
are  satisfied  that  they  know  what  that  cause  is, —  a 
cause,  however,  not  generally  understood  or  recog- 
nized as  yet.  But  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  that 
I  roblem  here.  I  only  wish  to  call  attention  to  the 
writings  of  the  two  great  religious  reformers  whose 
names  are  found  on  the  title-page  of  this  volume, 


24  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


and  who,  under  Providence,  have  been  eminently 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  that  much-needed 
theological  reform  which  has  clearly  commenced, 
in  the  midst  of  which  we  are  so  obviously  living, 
and  whose  existence  and  progress  every  careful 
student  of  religious  thought  is  beginning  to  see 
and  frankly  to  admit. 

In  another  part  of  the  sermon  from  which  I  have 
here  quoted,  the  writer  touches  upon  the  history 
of  religious  development  on  our  globe,  and  the 
adaptation  of  different  forms  of  belief  to  the  dif- 
ferent stages  of  human  progress.  And  in  this  con- 
nection we  find  the  following  sensible  remarks, 
which  indicate  with  sufficient  clearness  the  writer's 
own  view  of  the*  old  theologies,  and  their  utter  in- 
adequacy to  men's  present  needs. 

"  A  development  [of  religious  truth]  that  at  first 
meets  the  necessities  of  men,  after  a  time  ceases 
to  meet  those  necessities.  At  the  beginning  it  is  a 
cradle  which  they  can  sleep  in  while  they  are  yet 
babes ;  but  it  is  too  short  for  them  to  rock  in  when 
they  become  adults  

"  I  believe  that  to  past  theologies  we  owe  a  world 
of  gratitude.  They  were  efficient  in  bearing  us 
through  the  times  that  have  gone  by;  and  they 
were  good  enough  for  the  period  in  which  they 
existed.  But  that  there  is  to  be  nothing  more 
known,  that  no  more  light  is  to  break  out  of  the 
Word  of  God  or  out  of  human  experience,  I  do  not 


INTRODUCTION. 


25 


believe.  Any  system  of  theology  which  is  adequate 
to  the  wants  of  mankind,  must  be  a  system  that  in- 
cludes all  the  facts,  all  the  light  and  all  the  truth 
that  from  any  quarter  dawn  on  the  world.  And 
if  we  are  losing  our  hold  upon  the  older  systems, 
or  a  part  of  them;  it  is  only  that  we  are  preparing 
the  way  to  build  larger,  deeper,  with  more  authority 
and  with  more  power." 

And  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  quote  one 
other  passage  from  the  same  discourse.  Speaking 
of  the  great  current  of  new  religious  thought  that 
is  sweeping  through  the  world,  unsettling  old  be- 
liefs and  exposing  the  sandy  foundations  on  which 
such  multitudes  have  builded, —  a  current  so  broad 
in  its  extent,  so  crescent  in  its  progress  and  so  re- 
sistless in  its  power  as  clearly  to  authenticate  its 
divine  origin  —  he  says  : — 

"  It  is  absurd  to  attempt  to  resist,  to  forestall,  to 
stop,  a  movement  which  bears  in  its  length  and 
breadth  and  height  and  depth,  and  in  its  continuity 
and  universality,  the  signs  and  tokens  of  divine 
impulse.  The  attempt  to  keep  back  the  tide  of  the 
sea  with  a  broom,  or  the  attempt  to  stop  the  course 
of  a  river  with  a  straw,  were  wisdom  compared  with 
the  attempt  to  stop  a  movement  which  has  behind 
it  the  will  of  God  and  the  universal  consciousness 
of  men  :  "  — 

A  passage  which  recalls  to  mind  the  last  words 
I  used  in  the  last  one  of  a  series  of  lectures  de- 
3 


26  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


livered  in  the  city  of  New  York  nearly  forty  years 
ago,  on  that  grand,  comprehensive  and  altogether 
rational  system  of  religious  truth  unfolded  in  the 
writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg;  —  words  which 
seem  even  truer  now  than  when  they  were  first 
uttered,  and  which  I  may  be  pardoned  for  repeating 
here  —  as  I  do  with  increased  emphasis. 

"As  yet  this  New  Dispensation  is  only  in  its 
dawn.  And  although  all  the  evil  loves  of  men,  and 
all  the  powers  of  hell  are  arrayed  against  its  truths, 
yet  the  Omnipotent  Lord  Jesus  is  in  them,  and  their 
progress  however  slow  is  sure.  Skepticism  may 
cavil ;  bigotry  may  sneer;  prejudice  may  turn  away 
its  face  in  scorn  ;  .  .  .  but  so  sure  as  the  Lord  liveth 
and  reigneth,  the  march  of  his  truth  is  forever  on- 
ward. And  yonder  broad  river  that  hurries  to  the 
ocean  could  as  easily  be  stopped  in  its  career  by  the 
puny  hand  of  man,  as  the  onward  and  continually 
increasing  progress  of  the  truths  whereof  I  have 
spoken,  can  be  stayed  by  any  human  opposition. 
They  may  be  opposed,  scorned,  persecuted  —  for  so 
has  it  ever  fared  with  truth ;  but  they  cannot  be 
crushed  nor  stopped.  '  Conquering  and  to  conquer' 
they  must  ever  go,  until  '  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of 
his  Christ;  and  He  shall  reign  forever  and  ever.'" 

Words  strictly  true  when  spoken,  and  whose  truth 
is  becoming  more  and  more  evident  —  evident,  I 
mean,  to  constantly  increasing  numbers  —  with  each 
revolving  year. 


INTRODUCTION. 


27 


Many,  no  doubt,  will  be  surprised  at  the  coup- 
ling of  these  names,— Swedenborg  and  Channing; 
and  still  more  surprised,  perhaps,  when  they  see 
how  much  there  is  in  their  beliefs  and  teachings  to 
justify  such  coupling.  And  it  is  difficult  to  foresee 
or  conjecture  which  class  of  readers  will  be  most 
astonished,  those  of  Swedenborg  or  those  of  Chan- 
ning. My  hope  is,  that  the  discovery  of  the  many 
and  remarkable  agreements  in  their  writings,  as 
shown  in  the  chapters  following,  will  be  alike  grati- 
fying to  both  classes ;  and  that  the  students  of  the 
former  may  be  induced  to  form  a  higher  and  truer 
estimate  of  the  writings  of  the  latter,  and  those  of 
the  latter  be  led  to  a  more  patient  and  thorough 
study  of  the  writings  of  the  former;  and  that  the 
still  larger  class  who  know  little  or  nothing  of 
either  of  these  teachers,  may  be  induced  to  seek 
an  early  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  both. 
However  this  may  be,  the  numerous  and  striking 
parallelisms  discovered  in  their  teachings,  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  curiosi- 
ties, if  not  marvels,  of  modern  literature ;  and  as 
such,  therefore,  a  matter  of  interest  to  the  general 
reader. 

I  commence  with  what  all  will  acknowledge  to  be 
a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  Age  in  which 
we  live,  and  which  is  indispensable  to  all  theological 
or  religious  reform,  to  all  healthy  religious  growth 
and  all  genuine  religious  life, — 


28  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


II. 

RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

QWEDENBORG  was  the  earnest  and  consistent 
^  advocate  of  perfect  liberty  of  thought  in  matters 
of  religious  belief  —  the  rights  and  sacredness  of 
the  individual  conscience.  Freedom  and  rationality 
he  declares  to  be  the  two  essentially  human  facul- 
ties, without  which  man  would  not  be  man,  and 
without  the  exercise  of  which  no  one  can  go  to 
heaven  or  attain  to  the  heavenly  state.  The  freedom 
of  the  human  will,  he  says,  is  a  thing  so  important  and 
sacred,  that  the  Lord  guards  it  in  every  individual 
"as  the  apple  of  his  eye;"  choosing  to  let  his 
children  plunge  into  the  lowest  depths  of  guilt  and 
sin,  rather  than  invade  or  take  away  their  freedom. 
And  by  his  own  example  and  teachings  he  furnished  . 
a  conspicuous  illustration  of  the  individual  liberty 
which  he  so  steadily  inculcated. 

And  not  only  this,  but  his  knowledge  of  the  in- 
timate connection  and  dependence  of  the  natural 
upon  the  spiritual  world,  enabled  him  to  see  that 
greater  spiritual  liberty  to  men  on  earth  would  be 
one  of  the  beneficent  results  of  that  memorable 
event  which  he  was  permitted  to  witness  in  the  realm 
of  causes  or  "World  of  Spirits,"  in  1757,  and  which 
he  calls  "the  Last  Judgment."   Writing  shortly  after 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 


29 


that  event,  and  referring  to  its  effect  upon  the  then 
future  church,  he  says  : — 

"  The  state  of  the  church  hereafter  will  be  unlike 
what  it  has  been  hitherto.  It  will  be  similar,  indeed, 
in  the  outward  form,  but  ^similar  in  the  inward. 
Churches  will  continue  to  exist,  to  outward  appear- 
ance divided,  and  their  doctrines  will  be  taught  as 
heretofore. —  But  henceforth  the  man  of  the  church 
will  be  in  a  more  free  state  of  thinking  on  matters  of 
faith,  because  spiritual  liberty  has  been  restored  to 
him."    (L.  J.,  n.  73.) 

Again  he  says : — 

"  I  have  had  various  converse  with  the  angels 
concerning  the  state  of  the  church  hereafter.  They 
said  they  did  not  know  what  things  were  to  come, 
since  such  knowledge  belongs  to  the  Lord  alone; 
but  that  they  did  know  that  the  slavery  and  captivity 
in  which  the  man  of  the  church  was  formerly,  is  re- 
moved ;  and  that  now,  from  restored  liberty,  he  can, 
if  he  desires,  better  perceive  interior  truths,  and  thus 
become  more  internal."    (Ibid.  n.  73,  74.) 

This  was  written  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago. 
It  was  uttered,  not  as  prophecy,  in  the  common  ac- 
ceptation of  this  word ;  but  was  simply  the  asser- 
tion of  one  who  understood  the  connection  between 
the  two  worlds,  and  could  therefore  readily  foresee 
some  of  the  consequences  which  would  surely  follow 
from  the  momentous  changes  he  had  just  witnessed 
in  "  the  World  of  Spirits."  Swedenborg  saw  that 
3* 


30  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 

the  bondage  in  which  the  human  mind  had  been 
held  for  centuries,  was  broken, -and  why  it  was 
broken,  by  the  Last  Judgment ;  and  that  among  the 
consequences  sure  to  follow,  the  men  of  Christendom 
would  enjoy  greater  religious  liberty  than  they  had 
ever  before  experienced ;  and  that  their  increased 
freedom  of  thought  would  inevitably  result  in  some 
modification  of  their  religious  views  ;  —  in  the  pass- 
ing away  of  old  and  the  introduction  of  new  ideas, 
even  among  those  who  might  still  profess  the  same 
venerable  creeds  and  adhere  to  the  same  ritual  and 
the  same  ecclesiastical  polity.  Thus  the  churches, 
while  remaining  "similar  in  the  outward  form," 
would  become  "  ^similar  internally  "  —  that  is,  dis- 
similar in  their  ideas  and  prevailing  spirit. 

And  who  that  has  made  himself  familiar  with  the 
progress  of  religious  thought  and  the  development 
of  the  Christian  spirit  for  the  last  hundred  years, 
cannot  see  that  precisely  what  Swedenborg  pre- 
dicted has  already  come  to  pass.  We  all  recognize 
the  fact  that  there  has  been  an  immense  increase  of 
religious  liberty  in  all  branches  of  the  Christian 
church  within  the  last  century ;  and  this  growing 
freedom  has  led  inevitably  to  a  change  in  the  in- 
ternal character  and  condition  of  the  churches  —  a 
change  in  thought,  feeling  and  purpose;  while  in 
their  outward  form  —  in  administration,  creed  and 
ritual,  they  have  continued  substantially  as  they 
were  before. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 


31 


And  foremost  among  the  brave  vindicators  of  the 
sacred  right  of  private  judgment  and  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  individual  conscience,  stands  the  name  of 
William  Ellery  Channing.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no 
other  teacher  ever  did  half  as  much  as  did  this  great 
apostle  of  religious  liberty,  to  free  the  American 
people  from  a  state  of  degrading  thraldom  to  old 
dogmas,  and  to  promote  freedom  of  thought  and  in- 
quiry in  matters  of  religion.  Entering  upon  public 
life  at  a  time  when  earnest  and  thoughtful  men  and 
women  in  l^ew  England  and  elsewhere  were  begin- 
ning to  question  some  of  the  dogmas  taught  by 
Calvin  and  his  followers  —  such  as  unconditional 
election  and  reprobation,  a  partial  and  vindictive 
Deity,  vicarious  atonement,  and  salvation  by  faith 
alone  —  and  in  consequence  of  which  the  conserva- 
tives of  that  day  were  becoming  alarmed,  and  the 
spirit  of  intolerance  and  persecution  was  beginning 
to  be  revived,  Channing  stood  forth  the  fearless  and 
uncompromising  champion  of  free  thought.  He 
battled  not  so  much  for  any  particular  doctrine  or 
system  of  doctrines,  as  for  the  right  of  every  man  to 
exercise  his  God-given  freedom  on  matters  of  faith, 
and  accept  whatever  conclusions  might  seem  to  him 
true  and  wholesome.  He  was  the  bold  and  persist- 
ent advocate  of  intellectual  and  religious  liberty.  In 
defence  of  this  he  was  willing  to  be  scorned  and 
hated  and  persecuted  —  yes,  and  to  have  his  name 
cast  out  as  evil.    He  was  the  very  embodiment  of 


32  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


the  spirit  which  Swedenborg  had  exemplified  more 
than  a  half  century  before,  and  which  he  had  pre- 
dicted was  to  be  the  heritage  of  the  Church  of  the 
Future.  And  to  his  dauntless  courage,  brave  words 
and  tireless  opposition  to  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
tyranny,  more  than  to  the  labors  of  any  other  man, 
the  cause  of  religious  freedom  in  our  country  is  in- 
debted for  its  past  progress  and  present  strength. 
Every  page  of  his  writings  is  instinct  with  the  spirit 
of  this  freedom,  and  scores  of  illustrative  passages, 
like  the  following,  might  be  quoted  from  his  writ- 
ings :  — 

"  It  is  true  that  I  have  a  strong  and  growing  con- 
viction of  the  importance  of  the  prominent  religious 
doctrines  which  I  teach.  But  another  principle  has 
operated  on  my  mind  more  strongly  than  a  zeal  for 
any  particular  opinions,  and  this  is  my  attachment 
to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty.  To  vindicate  the 
rights  of  the  mind,  to  maintain  intellectual  freedom, 
to  withstand  intolerance  and  the  spirit  of  persecu- 
tion, to  save  our  churches  from  spiritual  despotism, 
—  this  has  been  nearer  my  heart  than  to  secure  a 
triumph  to  any  distinguishing  doctrine  of  a  sect." 

"I  feel  deeply  the  imperfections. of  all  classes  and 
denominations;  and  the  hopes  of  Christianity  rest 
on  the  courage  and  piety  of  men  who,  disclaiming 
all  human  authority  and  the  fetters  of  all  creeds,  give 
themselves  to  deliberate,  devout,  fearless  study  of 
God's  Word,  in  connection  with  his  works  and  prov- 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 


33 


idence.  Freedom  of  intellect,  joined  with  obedience 
to  whatever  truth  is  already  known,  is  the  appointed 
spirit  and  energy  by  which  the  church  and  the  world 
are  to  be  disenthralled  from  the  many  errors  which 
yet  darken  and  impair  its  ennobling  influence." 
{Memoirs  of  Charming,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  359,  361.) 

"Jesus  Christ  asserted  and  proclaimed  the  rights 
of  every  rational  being,  and  summoned  human  Rea- 
son to  its  great  function  of  deliberate  inquiry  into 
the  '  deep  things  of  God.'  The  human  mind  was 
made  for  Truth.    Its  nature  is  as  expansive  as  the 

air  we  breathe  What  progress  it  is  to  make 

under  the  increased  freedom  which  it  begins  to  en- 
joy, one  hardly  dares  to  conjecture.  That  it  is  to 
gain  ever  brighter  light ;  that  it  will  throw  off  the 
gloomy  errors  of  theology,  which  have  shut  it  in 
like  dungeon  walls  for  ages,  and  will  embrace  a 
Christianity  incomparably  purer  and  nobler  than  we 
now  hold,  I  cannot  doubt.  That  Age  of  Light  will 
understand,  as  we  cannot,  what  is  the  worth  of  the 
intellectual  liberty  which  Christ  came  to  bestow." 
{The  Perfect  Life,  pp.  234,  '5.) 

And  the  spirit  of  intellectual  and  religious  liberty 
was  as  beautifully  exemplified  in  this  man's  life  and 
practice,  as  it  was  eloquently  inculcated  in  his  dis- 
courses. 

But  before  Channing  was  born  Swedenborg  had, 
hundreds  of  times,  inculcated  the  same  principle,  and 
strongly  emphasized  its  importance.    He  had  in- 

c 


34  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNJNG. 


sisted  on  the  sacredness  of  the  rights  of  conscience 
and  the  freedom  of  the  individual  soul ;  and  declared 
any  invasion  of  this  freedom  or  infringement  of  these 
rights  to  be  a  great  and  cruel  wrong.  He  had 
taught  that  intellectual  and  religious  liberty  is  essen- 
tial to  all  moral  and  religious  growth ;  that  its  exer- 
cise is  among  the  most  sacred,  not  only  of  human 
rights  but  of  human  duties ;  that  "  it  is  this  freedom, 
through  which,  in  which,  and  with  which  the  '  Lord 
dwells,'  with  man  —  in  his  soul ;  "  that  it  is  not  only 
the  right  but  the  duty  of  every  individual,  when 
arrived  at  maturity,  to  examine  for  himself  the  re- 
ligious doctrines  in  which  he  has  been  educated,  and 
freely  accept  what  seems  to  him  good  and  true,  and 
as  freely  reject  the  opposite ;  and  that  this  duty  is 
the  more  imperative  because  of  the  many  and  hurtful 
errors  which  the  decrees  of  ecclesiastical  Councils 
have  introduced  into  the  church. 
Thus  he  says  :  — 

"  They  who  love  truth  for  its  own  sake  and  for 
the  sake  of  life,  consequently  for  the  sake  of  the 
Lord's  kingdom,  ....  search  the  Word  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  learning  truth  therefrom  ;  and  hence 
they  derive  their  faith  and  conscience.  If  any  one 
tells  them  they  should  remain  in  the  doctrinals 
of  the  church  wherein  they  were  born,  they  think 
within  themselves  that,  had  they  been  born  in  Ju- 
daism, Socinianism,  Quakerism,  Christian  Gentilism, 
or  even  outside  the  church,  they  would  have  been 


REASON  IN  RELIGION  VINDICATED.  35 


told  the  same  thing  by  those  among  whom  they 
were  born  ;  it  being  the  general  cry,  Here  is  the 
church !  Here  is  the  church !  Here  are  truths,  and 
nowhere  else !  This  being  the  case,  they  conclude 
that  the  Word  ought  to  be  searched  with  devout 
prayer  to  the  Lord  for  enlightenment.  Such  per- 
sons do  not  disturb  any  one  within  the  church,  nor 
do  they  ever  condemn  others  [for  believing  differ- 
ently from  themselves]  ;  for  they  know  that  every 
one  who  is  a  church,  lives  according  to  his  own 
faith."  (A.  CI,  n.  5432.  See  also  T.  C.  R.,  n.  177, 
489,498,634;  A.  C,  n.  5402,  7298;  D.  P.,  n.  71-97; 
A.  R.,  n.  776,  914.) 


III. 

REASON  IN  RELIGION  VINDICATED. 

BEFORE  the  memorable  year  1757  (the  time  from 
which  the  illustrious  Swede  dates  "the  Last 
Judgment"),  it  was  an  established  tenet  in  all  the 
churches,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  that  reli- 
gious doctrines  were  not  to  be  scrutinized  by  the 
eye  of  reason ;  that  they  (some  of  them  at  least) 
were  profound  mysteries  which  people  must  not  ex- 
pect to  understand,  and  should  not,  therefore,  "  pry 
into;"  that  they  were  to  be  accepted  blindly,  not 
rationally ;  that,  in  such  matters  the  understanding 


36  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


was  to  be  held  in  subjection  to  faith.  And  there 
was  good  reason  for  this  ;  for  the  generally  accepted 
beliefs  were  not  such  as  would  stand  the  test  of  ra- 
tional examination.  Therefore  it  became  the  habit 
of  religious  teachers,  when  closely  questioned  about 
their  doctrines,  to  deny  the  lawfulness  or  propriety 
of  exercising  our  human  reason  in  matters  of  reli- 
gious belief,  and  to  seek  shelter  behind  that  much 
abused,  but  very  convenient  word,  mystery. 

Swedenborg  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of  this  per- 
nicious tree.  He  boldly  announces  himself  as  the 
herald  of  a  New  Dispensation  —  a  dispensation  of  ra- 
tional religious  truth;  and  throughout  his  writings  he 
insists  on  the  freest  and  most  faithful  exercise  of  the 
understanding  in  matters  of  faith.  He  repudiates,  as 
a  false  and  pernicious  dogma,  the  prevalent  idea  of 
his  day,  that  religious  doctrines  were  not  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  scrutiny  of  reason,  or  brought  within 
the  grasp  of  the  intellect ;  and  insists  that  spiritual 
truth  should  be  seen,  or  received  rationally.  Speaking 
of  the  New  Church  whose  dawn  he  heralded,  and 
whose  doctrines  he  claims  to  have  been  specially 
commissioned  to  reveal,  he  says:  — 

"  In  the  New  Church  this  tenet,  that  the  under- 
standing must  be  kept  in  subjection  to  faith,  is  to  be 
rejected  ;  and  in  place  of  it  this  is  to  be  received  as 
a  maxim,  that  the  truth  of  the  church  should  be  seen 
before  it  is  received  ;  and  truth  cannot  be  seen  other- 
wise than  rationally.  .  .  .   Who  can  acknowledge 


REASON  IN  RELIGION  VINDICATED. 


37 


truth  and  retain  it  unless  he  sees  it?  And  what  is 
truth  not  seen  but  a  voice  not  understood  ?  "  (A.  R., 
n.  564.) 

And  everywhere  throughout  his  writings  he  insists 
on  the  importance  of  receiving  religious  truth  ration- 
ally;  that  is,  of  exercising  our  reason  on  whatever 
is  presented  us  for  truth,  or  of  seeing  it  with  the  eye 
of  the  mind  before  we  accept  it.  And  he  declares 
that  a  blind  belief  is  dangerous,  and  unworthy  to  be 
called  a  belief. 

"  Shut  people's  eyes,"  he  says,  "  stop  their  ears, 
that  is,  induce  them  not  to  think  from  any  under- 
standing, and  then  tell  those  impressed  with  some 
idea  of  eternal  life  whatever  you  will,  and  they  will 
believe  it ;  yes,  even  if  you  should  tell  them  that  God 
can  be  angry  and  breathe  vengeance ;  that  He  can 
inflict  eternal  damnation  upon  any  one ;  that  He  re- 
quires to  be  moved  to  pity  by  his  own  Son's  blood  ; 
'.  .  .  with  other  like  extravagances.  But  open  your 
eyes  and  unstop  your  ears,  that  is,  think  of  these 
things  from  your  understanding,  and  you  will  straight- 
way see  their  utter  disagreement  with  the  truth." 
(D.  F.,  n.  46.) 

He  says  that  no  one  in  heaven  accepts  for  truth 
anything  which  does  not  satisfy  the  demands  of  his 
intellect. 

"All  in  heaven  see  truths  with  the  understanding, 
and  so  receive  them  [that  is,  rationally];  but  what 
they  do  not  see  with  the  understanding,  they  do  not 
4 


38  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


receive.  And  if  any  one  says  to  them  that  they 
must  have  faith,  although  they  neither  see  nor  un- 
derstand, they  turn  away,  saying :  How  is  that  pos- 
sible ?  What  I  see  or  understand,  I  believe ;  but  I 
cannot  believe  what  I  do  not  see  nor  understand." 
(Ap.  Ex.,  n.  239.  See  also  D.  P,  n.  73-88.  A.  R., 
564,  914.  Ap.  Ex.,  1 100,  232,  242,  759.  D.  F.,  46, 
'7,  '8.    A.  C,  5432.) 

And  throughout  his  theological  writings  the  great 
seer  earnestly  vindicates  the  claims  of  reason,  and 
insists  on  the  faithful  exercise  of  the  understanding 
in  all  our  religious  inquiries.  He  emphatically  repu- 
diates and  condemns  the  old  dogma  that  we  are  to 
believe  blindly,  or  that,  in  religious  matters,  the  un- 
derstanding should  be  held  in  servile  subjection  to 
faith.  He  constantly  urges  the  freest  exercise  of  our 
rational  faculties  as  an  imperative  duty,  and  counsels 
us  to  accept  for  religious  truth  nothing  against 
which  our  reason  revolts,  or  which  fails  to  commend 
itself  to  our  rational  intuitions. 

And  Channing,  writing  more  than  a  half  century 
later,  saw  with  equal  clearness  the  same  inspiring 
truth.  He  saw  that  reason  should  never  be  divorced 
from,  but  always  go  hand  in  hand  with,  religion. 
And  ever  and  anon  he  flashes  this  truth  across  his 
page  with  electric  power  and  brilliancy.  Nowhere, 
prior  to  Swedenborg's  time,  is  there  to  be  found 
such  a  noble  vindication  of  the  claims  of  reason,  and 


REASON  IN  RELIGION  VINDICATED. 


39 


its  rightful  exercise  in  the  domain  of  religious  in- 
quiry, as  in  the  writings  of  this  man.  To  set  people 
a-thinking  upon  religious  subjects,  and  to  convince 
them  that  this  is  no  sin  —  nay,  that  it  is  their  imper- 
ative duty  to  think ;  and  to  subject  venerable  and 
widely  received  doctrines  to  the  test  of  both  reason 
and  Scripture  —  this  seems  to  have  been  his  high  and 
noble  mission.  And  rarely  if  ever  was  mission  more 
faithfully  fulfilled.  The  writer  takes  pleasure  in  ac- 
knowledging his  own  large  indebtedness  to  this 
great  quickener  of  religious  thought  and  indefati- 
gable worker  for  theological  reform. 

To  those  familiar  with. the  writings  of  Channing, 
quotations  here  are  needless.  And  to  those  who  are 
not,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  say  that  scores  of  pass- 
ages like  the  following  might  be  cited  from  his  pub- 
lished works,  vindicating  the  legitimate  function  and 
just  rights  of  human  reason  in  the  sacred  domain 
of  religion  :  — 

"  We  object  strongly  to  the  contemptuous  manner 
in  which  human  reason  is  often  spoken  of  by  our 
adversaries,  because  it  leads,  we  believe,  to  universal 
skepticism.  If  reason  be  so  dreadfully  darkened  by 
the  fall,  that  its  most  decisive  judgments  on  religion 
are  unworthy  of  trust,  then  Christianity,  and  even 
natural  theology,  must  be  abandoned.  .  .  .  We  honor 
revelation  too  highly  to  make  it  the  antagonist  of 
reason,  or  to  believe  that  it  calls  us  to  renounce  our 
highest  powers." 


4o 


S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


"  The  worst  errors,  after  all,  have  sprung  up  in  that 
church  which  proscribes  reason,  and  demands  from 
its  members  implicit  faith.  The  most  pernicious 
doctrines  have  been  the  growth  of  the  darkest  times, 
when  the  general  credulity  encouraged  bad  men  and 
enthusiasts  to  broach  their  dreams  and  inventions, 
and  to  stifle  the  faint  remonstrances  of  reason  by  the 
menaces  of  everlasting  perdition.  Say  what  we  may, 
God  has  given  us  a  rational  nature,  and  will  call  us 
to  account  for  it.  We  may  let  it  sleep,  but  we  do  so 
at  our  peril."  (Works,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  66,  67.) 


^  mass  of  Christians  in  his  day,  were  immersed  in 
spiritual  darkness.  The  clouds  of  error  had  been 
gathering,  he  says,  for  many  centuries ;  and  all  true 
ideas  of  God,  his  character,  kingdom  and  government, 
of  the  grandeur  and  capabilities  of  the  human  soul,  of 
the  laws  of  the  regenerate  life  or  the  nature  and  way 
of  human  salvation,  of  the  true  meaning  of  the  Sacred 
*  Scripture,  of  the  nature  of  heaven  and  hell — of  every- 
thing, in  short,  connected  with  man's  spiritual  wel- 
fare— were  well-nigh  blotted  out.  He  says  that  the 
church  throughout  Christendom  had  reached  that 


IV. 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


saw  that  the  minds  of  the  great 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


41 


state  of  spiritual  darkness  which  corresponds  to  the 
extinction  or  eclipse  of  the  heavenly  luminaries,  and 
which  was  symbolized  and  foreshadowed  by  the  pro- 
phetic language:  "The  sun  shall  be  darkened,  and 
the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall 
fall  from  heaven ;" — language  which,  according  to 
his  interpretation,  has  reference  entirely  to  that  cold, 
dark  and  desolate  state  of  the  church  which  was  to 
immediately  precede  the  coming  Dawn,  or  the  ad- 
vent of  that  spiritual  and  rational  truth  which  was  to 
break  through  the  clouds  of  the  latter.  Referring  to 
the  state  of  the  church  as  it  was  in  his  day,  he  says :  — 

"  Such  an  abomination  of  desolation  exists  to-day 
in  the  Christian  church,  that  there  is  not  a  single 
genuine  truth  remaining  in  it;  and  unless  a  new 
church  shall  be  raised  up  in  the  place  of  the  present 
one,  no  flesh  could  be  saved,  according  to  the  Lord's 
words  in  Matthew  xxiv.  22.  That  the  Christian 
church  as  it  is  to-day,  is  so  far  consummated  and 
devastated,  cannot  be  seen  by  those  on  earth  who 
have  confirmed  themselves  in  its  falsities;  because 
the  confirmation  of  falsity  is  the  denial  of  truth,  and 
therefore  veils,  as  it  were,  the  understanding."  (T. 
C.  R.,  n.  758.) 

He  saw  that  the  principle  of  charity  or  unselfish 
love  which  constitutes  the  very  essence  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  of  which  Jesus  Christ  was  Himself  the 
living  embodiment,  was  utterly  unknown  to  the 
great  mass  of  Christians  in  his  day ;  that  selfish- 


42 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


ness,  bigotry,  intolerance,  lust  of  dominion  —  all  the 
evils  which  defile  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord  —  had 
invaded  the  church ;  and  that,  through  the  pre- 
dominance of  these  evils  the  Word  of  God  had  been 
misunderstood  and  falsified  throughout ;  and  the 
church  had  therefore  reached  its  end  or  consumma- 
tion, had  ceased  to  be  a  church  —  having  become 
emptied  of  those  heavenly  and  life-giving  principles, 
which  are  essential  to  its  very  existence. 

"  The  consummation  of  the  church,"  he  says, 
"takes  place  when  there  remains  no  divine  truth 
except  what  is  falsified  or  rejected  ;  and  where  there 
is  no  genuine  truth,  genuine  good  is  impossible, — 
for  good  is  the  essence  of  truth,  and  truth  is  the 
form  of  good.  Good  and  truth  can  no  more  be 
separated  than  will  and  understanding.  —  Conse- 
quently, when  truth  is  consummated  in  the  church, 
[or  falsified  in  human  minds],  good  is  also  consum- 
mated [or  extinguished]  there ;  and  when  this  is 
done,  the  church  comes  to  an  end,  that  is,  it  is  con- 
summated." (T.  C.  R,  n.  753.)  "The  consumma- 
tion of  the  age  means  the  last  time  of  the  church  " 
[or  that  state  of  spiritual  darkness  signified  by  night]; 
"and  inasmuch  as  the  present  Christian  church  is 
the  night,  it  follows  that  the  morning,  that  is  to  say, 
the  beginning  of  a  new  church,  is  now  at  hand." 
(Ibid,  n.  757,  764.) 

And  fifty  years  later,  after  the  shades  of  night  had 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


43 


begun  to  disappear  before  the  dawn  of  the  New 
Day,  how  did  the  Christian  church  appear  to  the 
clear  perception  of  Channing?  By  virtue  of  that 
spiritual  intuition  with  which  he  was  so  largely 
gifted,  and  which  is  the  promised  heritage  of  all 
the  pure  in  heart,  he  saw  the  still  prevalent  errors 
and  corruptions  of  the  church  with  a  distinctness 
and  exposed  them  with  a  fidelity  scarcely  inferior 
to  that  of  Swedenborg.  "  He  employed  different 
language,  it  is  true ;  he  said  nothing  about  the 
"  consummation  "  or  "  end  "  of  the  church  ;  but  his 
meaning  was  substantially  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Swedish  seer.  He  speaks  of  "  the  almost  endless 
errors  which  have  darkened  theology ;  "  of  the  pre- 
vailing theology  of  his  time,  as  a  system  which 
"takes  from  us  our  Father  in  heaven,  and  substi- 
tutes a  stern  and  unjust  lord  ;  "  as  "  a  system  which 
makes  existence  a  curse,  and  wraps  the  universe  in 
gloom  ; "  of  "  the  gross  and  cherished  corruptions 
by  which  Christianity  is  at  this  moment  dishonored;" 
of  "the  human  inventions"  by  which  it  is  still  dis- 
figured ;  of  the  "  much  rubbish  "  by  which  it  is  en- 
cumbered ;  of  "  the  earth-born  fogs "  by  which  it 
"  has  long  been  shrouded ; "  but  he  cherishes  the 
hope  of  a  new  and  brighter  day  —  of  a  "glorious 
reformation  in  the  church" — and  earnestly  prays 
"  that  God  will  overturn  the  strongholds  of  spiritual 
usurpation,"  and  that  "  the  servile  assent  so  long 
yielded  to  human  creeds,  may  give  place  to  honest 


44  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


and  devout  inquiry  into  the  Scriptures."  Many 
illustrative  passages  might Jae  cited,  but  one  or  two 
will  suffice. 

"  Much  stubble  is  yet  to  be  burned ;  much  rub- 
bish to  be  removed ;  many  gaudy  decorations  which 
a  false  taste  has  hung  around  Christianity,  must  be 
swept  away ;  and  the  earth-born  fogs  which  have 
long  shrouded  it,  must  be  scattered,  before  this 
divine  fabric  will  rise  before  us  in  its  native  and 
awful  majesty,  in  its  harmonious  proportions,  in  its 
mild  and  celestial  splendors.  This  glorious  reforma- 
tion in  the  church,  we  hope,  under  God's  blessing, 
from  the  progress  of  the  human  intellect,  from  the 
moral  progress  of  society,  from  the  consequent 
decline  of  prejudice  and  bigotry,  and,  though  last 
not  least,  from  the  subversion  of  human  authority  in 
matters  of  religion,  from  the  fall  of  those  hierarchies 
and  other  human  institutions  by  which  the  minds 
of  individuals  are  oppressed  under  the  weight  of 
numbers,  and  a  Papal  dominion  is  perpetuated  in 
the  Protestant  church.  Our  earnest  prayer  to  God 
is,  that  He  will  overturn,  and  overturn,  and  over- 
turn the  strongholds  of  spiritual  usurpation,  until 
He  shall  come  whose  right  it  is  to  rule  the  minds 
of  men  ;  that  the  conspiracy  of  ages  against  the 
liberty  of  Christians  may  be  brought  to  an  end;  — 
and  that  Christianity,  thus  purified  from  error,  may 
put  forth  its  almighty  energy,  and  prove  itself,  by  its 
ennobling  influence  on  the  mind,  to  be  indeed  the 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


45 


power  of  God  unto  salvation."  (Works,  Vol.  III., 
pp.  I02,  '3.) 

Again,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Tuckerman,  written  from 
Rhode  Island,  in  the  summer  of  1827,  he  says:  — 

"  The  effect  of  the  quiet  thought  to  which  I  give 
myself  here,  is  to  make  me  more  sensible  to  the 
thick  darkness  which  overspreads  the  Christian  world. 
I  seem  to  discover  as  many  errors  in  practical  as 
in  dogmatic  religion.  The  false  theology  which  has 
prevailed  for  ages,  is  burying  us  all  in  night.  But 
the  corruptions  which  we  are  trying  to  expose  in 
the  popular  system,  are  perhaps  but  superficial,  com- 
pared with  those  which  remain  unrecognized  and 
which  we  all  inherit.  The  true  reformation,  I  ap- 
prehend, is  yet  to  come."  (Memoirs,  Vol.  III.,  p.  391.) 

And  in  other  portions  of  his  writings  Channing 
makes  sufficiently  plain  what  he  means  by  the 
"  stubble  "  that  is  yet  to  be  burned,  the  "  rubbish  " 
that  is  to  be  removed,  and  the  "  earth-born  fogs  '* 
that  are  to  be  scattered  before  the  true  and  living 
church  will  be  seen,  or  before  the  "  divine  fabric  of 
Christianity  will  rise  before  us  ....  in  its  mild  and 
celestial  splendors."  For  when  he  comes  to  speak 
of  the  old  and  generally  accepted  doctrines  of  reli- 
gion,—  doctrines  that  had  dominated  the  mind  of 
Christendom  for  centuries,  and  were  still  set  forth  in 
the  creeds,  taught  from  the  pulpits  and  proclaimed 
from  the  most  popular  chairs  of  theology  —  such  as, 
the  resurrection  of  the  material  body,  the  triperson- 


46 


S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


ality  of  God,  the  vicarious  atonement,  original  sin, 
the  imputation  of  the  merits  of  Christ,  unconditional 
election  and  reprobation,  an  angry  and  vindictive 
Deity,  justification  by  faith  alone,  baptismal  or  in- 
stantaneous regeneration,  a  hell  of  literal  fire  and 
brimstone,  admission  into  heaven  by  immediate 
mercy,  the  damnation  of  some  infants  and  of  all  the 
heathen,  and  other  kindred  doctrines — he  boldly 
denies  ant!  rejects  them  all.  He  exposes  with  great 
plainness  the  fallacy  of  the  arguments  resorted  to  in 
support  of  these  widely-spread  and  long-established 
beliefs,  and  shows  conclusively  their  utter  disagree- 
ment with  Scripture  and  reason  and  human  expe- 
rience and  the  accepted  laws  of  the  human  soul,  and 
with  our  highest  conceptions  of  the  love  and  wisdom 
and  mercy  of  God. 

But  these  venerable  doctrines  had  all  been  repu- 
diated by  Swedenborg  more  than  fifty  years  before 
Channing  wrote,  and  their  disagreement  with  reason 
and  Scripture  openly  proclaimed  and  clearly  demon- 
strated. 


TRIPERSONALITY  OF  GOD. 


47 


V. 


TRIPERSONALITY  OF  GOD. 


HANNING  believed  in,  and  throughout  his  teach- 


^  ings  earnestly  insisted  on,  the  strict  personal 
Unity  of  God.  To  this  truth  he  says,  "  we  give 
infinite  importance,  and  feel  ourselves  bound  to  take 
heed  lest  any  man  spoil  us  of  it  by  vain  philos- 
ophy." He  regarded  the  popular  doctrine  as  alike 
irrational  and  unscriptural,  and  of  hurtful  tendency — 
though  he  did  not  see  that  this,  more  than  any  other 
doctrine,  was  what  had  darkened  and  deranged  the 
entire  system  of  Christian  theology.  This  doctrine 
seemed  to  him  a  positive  denial  of  the  unity  of  God, 
and  an  assertion  of  the  existence  of  three  Gods. 
After  a  brief  but  fair  statement  of  the  commonly  re- 
ceived doctrine  in  one  of  his  discourses,  he  says  :  — 
"  Here,  then,  we  have  three  intelligent  agents, 
possessed  of  different  consciousnesses,  different  wills 
and  different  perceptions,  performing  different  acts 
and  sustaining  different  relations ;  and  ....  when 
we  attempt  to  conceive  of  three  Gods,  we  can  do 
nothing  more  than  represent  to  ourselves  three 
agents,  distinguished  from  each  other  by  similar 
marks  and  peculiarities  to  those  which  separate  the 
persons  of  the  Trinity."  (  Works,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  70,  71.) 
But  more  than  a  half  century  earlier,  Swedenborg 


48  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANINNG. 


had  declared  the  popular  belief  on  this  subject  to  be 
a  belief  in  three  Gods ;  and  he  traced  the  numerous 
errors  and  corruptions  of  Christian  theology  to  this 
fundamental  falsity.  He  says  that  "  the  idea  of 
three  Gods  has  principally  arisen  from  the  Athana- 
sian  Creed,  where  a  trinity  of  persons  is  taught,  for 
the  word  person  begets  such  an  idea."  And  after 
quoting  the  words  of  that  Creed,  and  showing  that 
"  there  arises  thence  no  other  idea  than  that  there 
are  three  Gods  unanimous  and  agreeing  together," 
he  proceeds : — 

"  That  the  whole  system  of  Christian  theology  at 
this  day  is  founded  on  an  idea  of  three  Gods,  is 
evident  from  the  doctrine  of  justification  which  is 
the  principal  of  the  doctrinals  of  the  Christian 
church,  both  among  Roman  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants. That  doctrine  sets  forth  that  God  the  Father 
sent  his  Son  to  redeem  and  save  mankind,  and 
gives  the  Holy  Spirit  to  operate  the  same.  Every 
man  who  hears,  reads  or  repeats  this,  cannot  but  in 
thought  or  idea  divide  God  into  three,  and  suppose 
that  one  God  sent  another  and  operates  by  a  third. 
That  the  same  thought  of  a  Divine  Trinity  distin- 
guished into  three  Persons,  each  of  whom  is  God,  is 
continued  throughout  the  rest  of  the  doctrinals  of 
the  present  church,  as  from  a  head  into  its  body, 
will  be  demonstrated  in  its  proper  place."  (B.  E., 
n-  35-) 

And  the  following  are  among  the  propositions 


TRIPERSONALITY  OF  GOD. 


49 


affirmed  in  the  same  treatise,  and  briefly  analyzed 
and  demonstrated :  — 

"  VI.  That,  after  the  idea  of  a  Trinity  of  Persons 
and  the  consequent  idea  of  three  Gods,  has  been 
rejected,  and  the  idea  of  one  God  .  .  .  received  in 
its  stead,  the  tenets  of  the  aforesaid  [or  popular] 
Theology  are  seen  to  be  erroneous. 

"  VII.  That  then  the  true  and  saving  faith,  which 
is  a  faith  in  one  God,  united  with  good  works,  may 
be  acknowledged  and  received. 

"  IX.  That  the  faith  of  the  present  day  has  sepa- 
rated religion  from  the  Church,  since  religion  con- 
sists in  the  acknowledgment  and  worship  of  one 
God  from  faith  grounded  in  charity. 

"  XI.  That  from  the  faith  of  the  present  Church 
there  results  a  worship  of  the  mouth  and  not  of  the 
life ;  yet  the  worship  of  the  mouth  is  accepted  by 
the  Lord  only  in  proportion  as  it  proceeds  from  the 
worship  of  the  life. 

"XIV.  That  the  doctrine  of  the  faith  of  the 
present  Church  ascribes  to  God  human  attributes ; 
as  that  He  regarded  man  from  anger,  and  required 
to  be  reconciled ;  that  He  is  reconciled  through  the 
love  He  bore  his  Son  and  by  the  intercession  of  the 
latter;  that  He  required  to  be  appeased  by  the 
sufferings  of  his  Son,  and  thus  to  be  brought  back 
to  mercy;  and  that  He  imputes  the  righteousness 
of  his  Son  to  an  unrighteous  man  who  supplicates  it 
from  faith  alone. 


50  5 WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 

"  XV.  That  from  the  faith  of  the  present  Church 
monstrous  births  have  been  and  may  still  be  pro- 
duced ;  such  as  instantaneous  salvation  by  an  act  of 
immediate  mercy;  predestination;  the  notions  that 
God  has  no  respect  to  men's  works,  but  to  faith 
alone ;  that  there  is  no  connection  between  charity 
and  faith ;  that  man  in  conversion  is  like  a  stock ; 
with  many  more  heresies  of  the  same  kind ;  .  .  . 
and  that  the  heresies  from  the  first  times  of  the 
church  to  the  present  day,  have  sprung  from  no 
other  source  than  the  idea  of  three  Gods. 

"XVII.  That  the  infestation  from  falsities  and  the 
consequent  eclipse  of  every  truth,  or  the  desolation 
which  'at  this  day  prevails  in  the  Christian  churches, 
is  what  is  meant  by  the  great  affliction  such  as  was 
not  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  nor  ever  shall 
be,  Matt.  xxiv.  21. 

"  XXII.  That  the  opening  and  rejection  of  the 
faith  of  the  present  Church,  and  the  revelation  and 
reception  of  the  tenets  of  the  faith  of  the  New  Church 
[with  a  life  conformable  thereto],  is  what  is  meant  by 
these  words  in  the  Apocalypse :  '  He  that  sat  upon  the 
throne  said,  Behold  I  make  all  things  new,  xxi.  5.' " 

And  the  agreement  between  Swedenborg  and 
Channing  in  the  doctrines  they  respectively  affirmed 
and  emphasized,  was  (with  one  or  two  exceptions 
which  we  shall  refer  to  hereafter)  scarcely  less  re- 
markable than  in  those  they  rejected  as  irrational 
and  false,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  passages  cited  by 
way  of  illustration. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 


51 


VI. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 

THROUGHOUT  his  writings  Swedenborg  repre- 
sents God  as  an  infinitely  wise,  tender  and  loving 
Father.  He  declares  that  the  essential  Divine  life 
is  none  other  than  Love  itself —  pure,  disinterested 
Benevolence  —  the  love  of  imparting  itself  with  its 
unspeakable  delights  to  the  countless  host  of  beings 
which  it  has  created  and  is  forever  creating.  This 
infinite  and  matchless  love,  he  says,  is  perpetually 
guided  in  its  operations  by  a  wisdom  equally  match- 
less  and  infinite.  God  creates  and  governs  the 
universe  from  pure  love  and  according  to  perfect 
wisdom,  that  is,  from  Himself.  Love  and  wisdom 
or  goodness  and  truth  are  his  essential  attributes  — 
the  very  substance  of  his  Being  —  united  like  the 
heat  and  light  of  the  sun,  or  like  the  will  and  un- 
derstanding of  man.  Therefore  He  can  never  act 
toward  any  of  his  creatures  from  a  feeling  of  anger, 
hatred  or  revenge,  as  this  would  be  acting  contrary 
to  his  essential  nature.  And  where  such  feelings 
are  attributed  to  Him  in  the  literal  sense  of  Scrip- 
ture, it  is  simply  an  appearance  of  the  truth  —  an 
appearance  corresponding  with  and  produced  by 
the  disorderly  states  of  those  towards  whom  He  is 
said  to  exercise  such  feelings.    Just  as  the  cheerful 


52 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


and  benignant  face  of  the  sun  appears  wrathful  and 
tormenting  to  him  who  looks  at  it  with  a  diseased 
eye.  The  torment  is  real  to  the  sufferer,  and  the 
sun  appears  to  be  the  cause.  But  that  appearance 
will  change  and  the  real  truth  become  manifest, 
soon  as  the  diseased  eye  is  restored  to  health,  and 
to  consequent  harmony  with  the  great  orb  of  day. 
Speaking  of  those  "  who  separate  faith  from  good 
works  "  and  "  who  blaspheme  the  Word  by  the  falsi- 
fication thereof,"  he  says  :  — 

"  They  believe  that  the  Divine  removed  or  rejected 
mankind  from  Himself,  when  yet  God  is  love  itself, 
mercy  itself,  and  goodness  itself ;  and  these  are  his 
esse.  From  which  it  is  evident  that  it  is  impossible 
for  Him  to  remove  or  reject  any  of  the  human  race, 
for  this  would  be  to  act  against  his  own  esse  or  being, 
which  is  that  from  which  all  love,  mercy  and  good- 
ness flow.  It  is  not  possible  even  for  an  angel  to 
act  thus,  nor  for  any  man  who  is  in  love,  mercy  and 
goodness  from  the  Lord,  when  yet  their  love  is  finite 
and  the  Divine  Love  is  infinite. 

"  The  removal  or  rejection  of  mankind  by  God  the 
Father  they  call  vindictive  justice,  of  which  they 
entertain  no  other  idea  than  as  of  a  king  or  judge 
revenging  an  evil  offered  to  himself,  consequently  as 
of  their  vengeance  in  which  there  cannot  but  be 
somewhat  of  anger.  To  confirm  this  they  adduce 
passages  from  the  Word  where  God  is  called  aven- 
ger, revengeful,  jealous,  angry,  wrathful  and  the  like; 


THE  CHARACTER  OE  GOD. 


53 


which  passages  they  falsify,  since  such  things  in  the 
literal  sense  are  said  merely  according  to  appear- 
ances. For  the  case  is  thus :  If  a  man,  after  death 
when  he  becomes  a  spirit,  is  in  evils  in  consequence 
of  his  life  in  the  world,  he  then  turns  away  from  the 
Lord ;  and  when  he  averts  himself  from  Him  and 
denies  Him,  he  can  no  longer  be  in  his  keeping  or 
protection,  since  his  evil  punishes  him  ;  for  in  evil  is 
the  punishment  of  evil,  as  in  goodness  is  the  reward 
of  goodness.  And  since  the  punishment  of  evil  from 
evil,  that  is  from  those  who  are  evil,  appears  as  if  it 
was  punishment  from  the  Divine,  therefore  according 
to  this  appearance  it  is  said  in  the  Word  concerning 
the  Divine  Being,  that  He  is  angry,  condemns,  casts 
into  hell,  and  the  like;  .  .  .  and  yet  He  is  not  angry, 
does  not  condemn,  does  not  punish  or  cast  into  hell, 
since  it  is  evil  that  punishes  itself."  (Ap.  Ex.,  n.  778.) 

And  everywhere  in  Channing's  writings  we  find 
the  same  benignant  character  ascribed  to  God.  He 
is  represented  as  "  the  Perfect  Goodness,"  "  the  In- 
finite Love,"  "  the  Pure  Reason,"  "  the  Universal 
Light ;  "  —  as  loving  and  forever  seeking  to  save  and 
bless  all  his  rational  creatures,  however  they  may 
reject  his  counsels  and  trample  on  his  laws.  Many 
illustrative  passages  might  be  given,  but  the  following 
will  suffice :  — 

"  God  is  the  Infinite  Moral  Will,  —  pure,  unmixed 
Goodness  —  pure  Reason  [Wisdom]  and  Lcve,  abid- 
5* 


54 


S VVEDENB OR G  AND  CHANNING. 


ing  in  the  peace  of  calm,  unchanging,  eternal  recti- 
tude. .  .  The  Divine  Love  is  the  love  of  a  God,  infinite 
love,  infinite  in  its  energy,  intenseness,  variety,  extent, 
duration,  its  all-vivifying,  all-recreating  power.  .  .  . 
We  can  never  form  even  a  faint  conception  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  until  we  rise  to  the  idea  of  Perfect 
Goodness  as  the  fountain  of  a  love  that  pours  forth 
forever  rich,  free,  unbounded  communications  of  its 
own  blessedness,  that  warms,  embraces,  quickens,  ex- 
alts all  creatures."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  III.,  p.  404.) 

"  The  truth  is  that  God  loves  equally  all  human 
beings,  of  all  ranks,  nations,  conditions  and  charac- 
ters ;  that  the  Father  has  no  favorites  and  makes  no 
selections ;  that  in  his  very  being  He  is  Impartial 
and  Universal  Love.  This  is  the  fundamental  Truth 
of  the  Christian  Religion,  entering  into  and  glorify- 
ing all  its  other  truths."    {The  Perfect  Life,  p.  67.) 


VII. 

UNION  WITH  AND  LIKENESS  TO  GOD. 

SWEDENBORG  has  much  to  say  of  man's  "  con- 
junction "  or  union  with  God,  which  takes  place  in 
the  degree  that  we  receive  into  our  souls  the  Divine 
love  and  wisdom,  or  are  renewed  in  the  spirit  and  tem- 
per of  our  minds  after  the  image  of  Him  that  created 
us.    We  were  made,  he  says,  to  be  sharers  of  the 


UNiON  WITH  AND  LIKENESS  TO  GOD.  55 


Divine  likeness,  to  be  fellow-laborers  with  God  in  the 
sublime  work  of  forming  a  heaven  of  angels;  —  the 
work  of  enlightening,  purifying  and  elevating  human 
souls,  and  training  them  for  the  skies.  Our  wills 
were  created  to  be  the  recipients  of  the  Divine  love 
which  is  pure  and  unselfish  —  the  love  of  imparting 
itself  with  its  ineffable  delights  unto  others;  and  our 
understandings  were  created  to  be  the  recipients  of 
the  Divine  wisdom  or  truth.  And  in  the  degree  that 
the  understanding  (or  head)  is  enlightened  by  God's 
wisdom,  and  the  will  (or  heart)  is  filled  and  animated 
by  his  unselfish  love,  the  individual  is  regenerated 
—  created  anew  in  the  Divine  likeness.  And  he  is 
then  in  like  degree  spiritually  conjoined  to  God ; 
in  thought,  feeling  and  purpose,  he  is  at-one  with  the 
Divine  Mind.  But  this  spiritual  renewal  or  great 
At-one-mcnt,  he  tells  us,  is  never  suddenly  attained  ; 
nor  is  such  a  measure  thereof  ever  reached,  that  there 
can  be  no  further  progress  in  the  same  direction.  It  is 
a  gradual  process  which  takes  place  in  the  degree 
that  we  learn  and  religiously  obey  the  laws  of  the 
soul's  higher  life  —  the  laws  of  divine  and  neighborly 
love.  This  is  the  uniform  teaching  of  Swedenborg, 
repeated  hundreds  of  times  in  his  writings.  To  cite 
only  two  or  three  brief  passages  :  — 

"  An  image  of  God  is  a  receptacle  of  God.  And 
as  God  is  love  itself  and  wisdom  itself,  an  image  of 
Him  is  the  reception  of  love  and  wisdom  in  that 
receptacle.    Love  and  wisdom  or  the  good  and  the 


$6  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING* 


true  in  man,  appear  to  him  as  his  own;  and  this 
causes  him  to  be  man,  and  makes  him  capable  of 
union  with  God."    (T.  C.  R.,  n.  48.) 

"  Furthermore,  what  is  faith  but  conjunction  with 
God  by  truths  belonging  to  the  understanding  and 
thence  to  thought?  And  what  is  love  but  conjunc- 
tion with  Him  by  goods  which  belong  to  the  will 
and  thence  to  affection  ?  God's  conjunction  with 
man  is  a  spiritual  conjunction  within  the  natural." 
(Ibid.,  n.  369.) 

"  Conjunction  takes  place  according  to  this  saying 
of  the  Lord:  'He  that  hath  my  commandments  and 
keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me ;  .  .  .  .  and  I 
will  love  him  and  will  manifest  myself  unto  him : 
....  and  we  will  make  our  abode  with  him,'  John 
xiv.  21-23.  The  Lord's  commandments  all  relate 
to  love  to  the  neighbor,  the  sum  of  which  is  not  to 
do  him  evil  but  good."    (Ibid.,  n.  458.) 

And  substantially  the  same  teaching  is  to  be 
found  in  many  places  in  Channing's  writings,  and  is 
clearly  implied  in  many  more.  And  it  holds  in  his 
teachings  about  the  same  prominence,  relatively,  as 
in  the  teachings  of  Swedenborg.  He  says  that 
"  goodness  consists  in  union  with  God  and  his  whole 
spiritual  family;  "  that  it  is  the  glory  and  nobleness 
of  the  human  soul  "  to  be  joined  to  Him  in  purposes 
of  beneficence — swallowed  up  in  a  pure,  overflowing 
love."    In  his  sermon  on  "  Likeness  to  God,"  he 


UNION  WITH  AND  LIKENESS  TO  GOD.  57 


affirms  "that  the  true  religion  consists  in  proposing, 
as  our  great  end,  a  growing  likeness  to  the  Supreme 
Being ;  "  "  that  the  great  work  of  religion  is,  to  con- 
form ourselves  to  God,  or  to  unfold  the  divine  like- 
ness within  us ;"  and  that  there  may  be  such  a  re- 
generated and  perfected  state  of  the  soul  as  "  consti- 
tutes it  a  bright  image  of  God."  And  he  thinks  that 
"the  importance  of  this  assimilation  to  our  Creator" 
cannot  be  over-estimated. 

"  Likeness  to  God,"  he  says,  "  is  the  supreme  gift. 
He  can  communicate  nothing  so  precious,  glorious, 
blessed,  as  Himself.  To  hold  intellectual  and  moral 
affinity  with  the  Supreme  Being,  to  partake  his 
spirit,  to  be  his  children  by  derivations  of  kindred 
excellence,  ....  this  is  a  felicity  which  obscures 

and  annihilates  all  other  good  God  becomes 

a  real  being  to  us,  in  proportion  as  his  own  nature  is 
unfolded  within  us.  To  a  man  who  is  growing  in 
the  likeness  of  God,  faith  begins  even  here  to  change 
into  vision.  He  carries  within  himself  a  proof  of  a 
Deity,  which  can  only  be  understood  by  experience." 
{Works,  Vol.  III.,  p.  229.) 

"  Is  it  enough  to  admire  and  praise  [the  Divine 
perfections]?  Do  we  not  most  efficiently  manifest 
our  esteem  by  seeking  to  become  what  we  praise,  by 
transcribing  into  our  lives  the  perfections  of  God,  by 
copying  his  wisdom  in  the  judicious  pursuit  of  good 
ends,  his  justice  in  the  discharge  of  all  our  obliga- 
tions, and  his  benevolence  in  the  diffusion  of  .all 


58 


SWEDENBORg  AND  LJIANNING. 


possible  happiness  around  us  ?  Then  is  our  love  of 
God  the  most  exalted,  when  in  our  several  spheres 
we  aim  to  be  like  Him,  to  reflect  his  glory,  to  act 
for  the  great  end  for  which  He  is  ever  active,  the 
improvement  and  happiness  of  every  being  within 
our  influence."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  13.) 

"  There  is  something  most  affecting  in  the  thought 

of  resembling  God  And  this  thought  is  not 

presumptuous.  The  purity,  the  virtue  to  which  we 
are  called  in  the  gospel,  and  which  men  have  in  a 
measure  attained,  is  the  same  in  nature  with  that 
which  constitutes  the  glory  of  God.  In  particular, 
that  disinterested  love,  that  diffusive  benevolence,  to 
which  Jesus  Christ  so  emphatically  calls  us,  forms 

the  highest  glory  of  the  Divine  character  By 

Christian  goodness  we  are  made  partakers  of  God's 
nature,  we  shine  with  a  ray  of  his  light,  we  share  his 
highest  perfection,  we  become  temples  of  the  Divin 
ity,  God  dwells  in  us  Christian  virtue  consti- 
tutes us  his  children  by  making  us  like  Him."  (Ibid.) 

And  Channing  teaches,  as  did  Swedenborg  many 
years  before,  that  the  attainment  of  a  moral  likeness 
to  God,  is  not  an  instantaneous  or  sudden,  but  a 
gradual  and  progressive  work.  We  approach  this 
likeness,  he  says,  "  by  every  right  exertion  of  the 
powers  He  gives  us,"  "  invigorating  the  understand- 
ing by  honestly  and  resolutely  seeking  the  truth," 
"  invigorating  the  conscience  by  following  it  in  op- 
position to  the  passions,"  "  warring  against  a  habit 


WHAT  IT  IS  TO  LOVE  GOD. 


59 


or  desire  which  is  strengthening  itself  against  our 
higher  principles."  (Ibid.,  p.  245.)  "All  good  comes 
from  God ;  but  it  comes  through  the  powers  which 
He  bestows,  and  through  his  blessing  on  the  faithful 
use  of  them.  The  character  is  never  changed  in  a 
moment,  or  without  our  own  activity."  (Memoirs, 
Vol.  II,  p.  8.) 


VIII. 

WHAT  IT  IS  TO  LOVE  GOD. 

THE  Scripture  teaches  that  to  love  God  with  all 
the  heart,  and  the  neighbor  as  one's  self,  is  the 
sum  and  substance  of  all  the  divine  precepts.  "On 
these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  Yet  few  Christians  seem  to  have  any 
distinct  idea  of  what  it  is  to  love  the  Lord  supremely. 
Few  seem  to  understand  that  it  is  to  love  truth,  sin- 
cerity, justice,  benevolence  —  all  those  sacred  and 
vital  principles  which  come  from  God,  and  which, 
*  when  received  by  men,  make  them  angels  —  images 
and  likenesses  of  the  Heavenly  Father.  Nor  have 
Christians  generally  known  that  these  divine  princi- 
ples are  truly  loved  only  so  far  as  they  are  carried 
into  practice : — ultimated  in  our  daily  lives  and  ac- 
tions. But  Swedenborg  is  very  full  and  explicit  in 
his  teaching  on  this  subject.    He  says:  — 

"So  far  as  a  man  shuns  and  is  averse  to  unlawful 


60  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNMG. 

gains  acquired  by  fraud  and  craft,  he  wills  what  is 
sincere,  right  and  just;  and  at  length  he  begins  to 
love  what  is  sincere  because  it  is  sincere,  what  is 
right  because  it  is  right,  and  what  is  just  because  it 
is  just,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  from  the  Lord 
and  the  love  of  the  Lord  is  in  them.  For  to  love 
the  Lord  is  not  to  love  his  person,  but  it  is  to  love 
those  things  which  proceed  from  Him,  for  these  are 
the  Lord  with  man ;  thus  it  is  to  love  what  is  itself 
sincere,  what  is  itself  right,  what  is  itself  just;  and 
since  these  things  are  the  Lord,  therefore  in  pro- 
portion as  a  man  loves  them  and  acts  from  them, 
he  acts  from  the  Lord ;  and  in  the  same  proportion 
the  Lord  removes  things  insincere  and  unjust,  even 
as  to  the  intentions  and  will  wherein  they  have  their 
roots."    (Ap.  Ex.,  n.  973.) 

"  By  loving  the  Lord  is  not  meant  to  love  Him  as 
a  person,  but  it  is  to  love  the  divine  good  and  truth 
which  are  the  Lord  in  heaven  and  in  the  church. 
And  these  two  principles  are  not  loved  by  knowing 
them,  thinking  them,  understanding  them  and  speak- 
ing them,  but  by  willing  and  doing  them."  (Ibid.,  ♦ 
n.  1099.)  "The  angels  know  that  to  love  the  Lord  is 
nothing  else  but  to  do  the  good  works  which  are 
uses,  saying  that  uses  are  the  Lord  with  them.  .  .  . 
Love  is  continually  going  and  returning  by  deeds 
which  are  uses,  since  to  love  is  to  do."  (D.  L., 
§  xiii.) 


WHAT  IT  IS  TO  LOVE  GOD.  6 1 

And  how  does  this  differ  from  Channing's  belief 
and  teaching  on  the  same  subject,  as  set  forth  in  the 
following  passages,  and  often  in  other  parts  of  his 
writings  ? 

"  What  is  God's  character,  the  character  which 
we  are  to  love,  .  .  .  but  the  very  dispositions  in  their 
fulness,  which  conscience  enjoins  upon  every  man, 
and  which  form  what  we  call  rectitude  ?  ...  To 
love  God  has  been  thought  something  quite  distinct 
from  loving  our  neighbor,  loving  our  duty,  loving 
right  and  worthy  actions.  But  they  are  not  to  be 
divided.  To  love  God  is  the  same  thing  as  to  love 
rectitude,  for  God  is  rectitude ;  this  is  the  central 
principle  of  his  character.  .  .  .  The  love  of  God  is 
but  another  name  for  the  love  of  essential  benevo- 
lence and  justice."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  15.) 

"  God's  will  must  be  trusted  and  obeyed ;  then 
does  He  come  forth  to  us,  manifest  Himself  to  us. 
.  .  .  He  cannot  be  loved,  except  as  virtue,  goodness, 
moral  perfection  is  loved."  (Ibid.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  405.) 
"  The  true  love  of  God  perfectly  coincides,  and  is  in 
fact  the  same  thing,  with  the  love  of  virtue,  rectitude 
and  goodness."    (Ibid.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  95.) 

And  in  Channing's  as  in  Swedenborg's  view,  the 
love  of  God  is  identical  with  the  love  of  Christ. 
Whoever  loves  supremely  the  perfect  moral  excel- 
lence embodied  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  loves 
and  practices  the  precepts  of  Christ, —  loves  truth, 
justice,  sincerity,  benevolence  —  loves  all  moral  ex- 
6 


62  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


cellence,  all  divine  human  qualities,  and  seeks,  by 
the  Divine  aid,  to  have  them  incorporated  into  his 
own  soul.  And  this,  according  to  Swedenborg,  is 
the  true  love  of  God.  And  if  it  be  also  the  true 
love  of  Christ,  as  Channing  teaches,  then  the  supreme 
love  of  Christ  must  be  the  supreme  love  of  God. 
Take  for  illustration  the  following  from  "The  Perfect 
Life : " 

"  But  let  not  this  regard  to  Christ  be  misunder- 
stood. Especially  let  it  not  be  separated  in  our 
thoughts  from  obedience  to  his  Precepts,  or  be 
exalted  in  our  esteem  above  general  Rectitude. 
The  truth  is,  the  love  of  Christ  is  but  another 
name  for  the  love  of  Virtue.  .  .  .  The  character 
of  Christ  is  perfect  Virtue.  And  consequently 
attachment  to  Christ,  as  I  have  just  said,  is  but 
another  name  for  attachment  to  Virtue.  ...  To  love 
Jesus  Christ,  is  to  love  Him  in  whom  Human  Virtue 
was  revealed  in  its  Perfection,  and  who  came  that 
He  might  communicate  to  us  what  was  most  perfect 
in  his  own  mind.  It  is  to  love  disinterestedness,  self- 
sacrifice  and  unbounded  charity.  ...  It  is  to  love 
calmness,  constancy,  fortitude  and  magnanimity " 
(pp.  274/5);  in  other  words,  it  is  to  love  "perfect 
Virtue,"  or  all  that  is  known  of  God's  moral  per- 
fections. And  to  love  these,  and  live  accordingly, 
is  to  love  God. 


THE  ESSENTIAL   THING  IN  RELIGION. 


63 


IX. 

THE  ESSENTIAL  THING  IN  RELIGION. 

THERE  is  no  single  subject  so  much  dwelt  upon 
by  Swedenborg,  none  whose  supreme  import- 
ance he  so  often  or  so  strongly  emphasizes,  as  right- 
eousness of  life.  Throughout  his  writings  he  teaches 
that  love  to  the  Lord  and  the  neighbor  is  the  essen- 
tial thing  in  heaven  and  the  church ;  that  the  degree 
of  heavenly  life,  and  consequent  happiness,  in  any 
individual,  depends  on  the  degree  in  which  this  love 
*s  developed  or  received  (for  man,  he  tells  us,  is  only 
a  recipient  subject),  and  the  measure  of  its  intensity. 
He  says  that  love  is  life ;  and  that  the  purer, 
stronger  and  more  disinterested  the  love,  the  nobler 
and  more  exalted  the  life  —  the  nearer  does  the  in- 
dividual approach  to  the  moral  likeness  of  God  Him- 
self, and  the  sweeter  and  more  abundant  his  spiritual 
joy.  Accordingly  he  teaches  that  this  is  the  great 
end  of  all  God's  dealings  with  us  —  the  end  of  all 
his  chastisements  and  blessings  —  the  end  for  which 
He  gives  us  spiritual  truths  or  the  laws  of  the  soul's 
higher  life — -viz.,  to  develop  within  us  a  heavenly 
character  —  a  pure  and  unselfish  love, —  to  re-create 
us  in  his  own  image  and  likeness.  He  insists,  in- 
deed, on  the  importance  of  truth,  but  only  as  a 
means  to  this  great  end;  and  the  higher  and  purer 


64  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


the  truth  we  accept,  the  higher  and  more  blessed  the 
state  of  life  to  which  we  may  attain  — shall  attain  if 
we  religiously  obey  the  truth.  But  religious  truth,  he 
says  —  no  matter  how  pure,  exalted,  or  abundant  it  be 
—  is  of  no  advantage  whatever  to  the  receiver,  unless 
he  make  it  the  means  of  repressing  and  overcoming 
in  himself  his  selfish  and  infernal  propensities  and 
developing  the  higher  and  nobler  life;  and  this  he 
does  only  by  faithfully  living  or  doing  the  truth  — 
following  whithersoever  it  points  the  way,  and  shun- 
ning, as  a  sin  against  God,  whatever  the  truth,  as  he 
understands  it,  condemns.  Hundreds  of  passages 
confirmatory  of  this  might  be  quoted ;  but  three  or 
four  brief  extracts  will  serve  our  purpose.  Bear  in 
mind  that  every  one's  character  is  according  to  the 
state  of  his  heart  or  will,  the  nature  of  his  dominant 
love,  or  the  ruling  purpose  of  his  life. 

"  Charity  constitutes  the  church,  and  not  faith 
separate  from  charity."  (A.  C,  n.  3121.  See  also 
n.  809,  916,  1798,  1799,  1834,  1844,  2190,  2228, 
2442.)  And  "  Genuine  charity  is  to  believe  in  the 
Lord,  and  to  act  justly  and  rightly  in  every  employ- 
ment and  office.  That  man,  therefore,  who  from  the 
Lord  loves  justice  and  practices  it  with  judgment,  is 
charity  in  its  image  and  likeness."   (T.  C.  R.,  n.459.) 

"  Every  man's  character  is  known  from  his  [dom- 
inant] love ;  for  love  is  the  esse  of  every  one's  life, 
the  veriest  life  itself  deriving  its  existence  from  it. 
Such,  therefore,  as  is  the  nature  of  the  love  which 


THE  ESSENTIAL   THING  IN  RELIGION.  65 


rules  in  a  man,  such  is  the  man.  If  it  be  the  love 
of  self  and  the  world,  and  consequently  of  revenge, 
hatred,  cruelty,  adultery  and  the  like,  the  man  as  to 
his  spirit  or  the  interior  man  that  lives  after  death,  is 
a  devil,  whatever  be  his  outward  appearance.  But 
if  his  prevailing  love  be  the  love  of  God  and  the 
neighbor,  and  consequently  the  love  of  goodness 
and  truth,  also  of  justice  and  honesty,  he,  whatever 
may  be  his  outward  appearance,  is  an  angel  as  to  his 
spirit  that  lives  after  death."  (A.  C,  n.  6872.  See 
also  n.  379,  33,  10,284.    Ap.  Ex.,  n.  251.) 

"  The  state  of  charity  in  man  is  according  to  the 
nature  and  amount  of  truth  in  him.  .  .  Neverthe- 
less, life  is  not  in  truth  but  in  good.  Truth  is  only  a 
recipient  of  life,  that  is,  of  good.  It  is,  as  it  were, 
the  clothing  or  vestment  of  good.  Therefore  truths 
in  the  Word  are  called  clothes,  and  also  garments." 
(A.  C,  n.  2189.) 

"  It  is  of  no  advantage  to  a  man  to  know  much, 
unless  he  lives  according  to  what  he  knows.  For 
knowledge  has  no  other  end  than  goodness ;  and  he 
who  is  made  good  [that  is,  pure  and  unselfish  in  his 
character]  is  in  possession  of  a  far  richer  treasure 
than  he  whose  knowledge  is  the  most  extensive,  and 
yet  is  destitute  of  goodness ;  for  what  the  latter  is 
seeking  by  his  great  acquirements,  the  former  already 
possesses.  .  .  They  who  know  little,  but  have  a  con- 
science [or  follow  the  little  light  they  have],  become 
enlightened  in  the  other  world  even  so  as  to  become 
6*  E 


66 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


angels ;  and  then  their  wisdom  and  intelligence  are 
inexpressible."    (A.  C,  n.  uoo.) 

"  Truths,  however  they  are  known  and  understood, 
if  they  are  not  at  the  same  time  lived,  are  nothing 
but  inanimate  truths ;  and  inanimate  truths  are,  as  it 
were,  lifeless  statues."    (Ap.  Ex.,  n.  730.) 

So  that  a  man's  character  or  his  spiritual  nearness 
to  God,  depends  not  so  much  on  what  he  under- 
stands, thinks  or  believes,  as  on  the  kind  and  degree 
of  his  love,  the  state  of  his  heart  or  the  riding  purpose 
of  his  life;  and  this,  again,  depends  on  the  measure 
of  his  fidelity  to  duty,  or  the  degree  of  his  obedience 
to  all  known  truth. 

So  often  is  the  supreme  importance  of  right  living, 
or  religions  obedience  to  all  knoivn  lazvs  of  heavenly 
charity,  insisted  on  by  Swedenborg,  and  the  relative 
insignificance  of  everything  else,  that  it  would  be 
easy  to  fill  a  clever-sized  volume  with  passages  illus- 
trative of  this. 

And  are  not  the  writings  of  Channing  imbued 
throughout  with  the  very  same  teaching?  Does  he 
not  in  hundreds  of  places  lay  the  strong  emphasis 
on  character  rather  than  on  mere  doctrine  or  belief? 
Does  he  not  insist  on  the  superiority  of  charity  to 
faith  as  earnestly  as  did  Swedenborg  seventy  years 
before  ?  And  that  the  formation  of  heavenly  char- 
acter by  the  faithful  application  of  truth  to  life,  is*the 
grand  desideratum — the  chief  purpose  of  the  Christian 


THE  ESSENTIAL   THING  IN  RELIGION.  67 


religion  — the  end  which  the  Heavenly  Father  Him- 
self is  perpetually  seeking  and  would  have  all  his 
children  seek  ?    Hear  him  :  — 

"  This  idea,  that  the  great  end  of  Christianity,  of 
the  mission  of  Jesus,  is  to  exalt  the  human  character 
although  it  runs  through  the  Scriptures,  has  been 
very  much  overlooked.  .  .  The  Scriptures,  I  think, 
lead  us  to  believe  that  holiness,  or  excellence  of 
character,  is  a  vastly  greater  blessing  than  pardon 
or  forgiveness.  .  .  The  great  principle  which  runs 
through  and  binds  together  all  parts  of  the  Christian 
system,  is  this,  —  that  our  happiness,  our  eternal 
happiness,  depends  on  the  character  we  form." 
(Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  49,  50.) 

"  Inward  sanctity,  pure  love,  disinterested  attach- 
ment to  God  and  man,  obedience  of  heart  and  life, 
sincere  excellence  of  character,  this  is  the  one  thing 
needful,  this  the  essential  thing  in  religion  ;  and  all 
things  else,  ministers,  churches,  ordinances,  places  of 
worship,  all  are  but  means,  helps,  secondary  influ 
ences,  and  utterly  worthless  when  separated  from 
this.  .  .  My  friends,  one  of  the  greatest  truths  of 
religion,  is  the  supreme  importance  of  character,  of 
virtue,  of  that  divine  spirit  which  shone  out  in  Christ." 
(Works,  Vol.  VI.,  pp.  223,  "4.) 

"  God  heeds  not  what  we  say,  but  what  we  are. 
The  subjection  of  our  wills  to  the  Divine,  the  mor- 
tification of  sensual  and  selfish  propensities,  the 
cultivation  of  supreme  love  to  God  and  of  universal 


68  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


justice  and  charity  towards  our  neighbor, — this,  this  is 
the  very  essence  of  religion  ;  this  alone  places  us  on  a 
rock  ;  this  is  the  end,  the  supreme  and  ultimate  good, 
and  is  to  be  prized  and  sought  above  all  other  things. 

"  Men  in  all  ages  have  contrived  to  find  substitutes 
for  purity  of  heart  and  life ;  have  hoped  by  some 
other  means  to  commend  themselves  to  God,  to  en- 
ter the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Forms,  creeds,  churches, 
the  priesthood,  the  sacraments,  these  and  other  things 
have  been  exalted  into  supremacy.  The  grand  and 
only  qualification  for  heaven,  that  which  in  itself  is 
heaven,  the  virtue  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  has 
been  obscured,  depreciated ;  whilst  assent  to  certain 
mysteries,  or  union  with  certain  churches,  has  been 
thought  the  narrow  way  that  leads  to  life. 

"  So  that  something  distinct  from  purity  of  heart 
and  life,  is  made  the  way  of  salvation. 

"  This  error  I  would  expose.  I  wish  to  show  that 
Christ's  spirit,  Christ's  virtue,  or  the  doing  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  is  the  great  end  of  our  re- 
ligion, the  only  essential  thing,  and  that  all  other 
things  are  important  only  as  ministering  to  this." 
(Ibid.,  pp.  186,  '7.    See  also  p.  194.) 

"  I  consider  righteous  action,  the  doing  of  God's 
will,  as  the  beginning  and  end  of  Christianity.  I 
regard  the  precepts  of  Jesus  —  which  He  gave  on 
the  Mount,  and  which  He  illustrated  so  gloriously 
in  his  life, —  as  the  essential  Element  of  his  religion, 
and  to  which  all  other  parts  are  but  subservient. 


CATHOLICITY. 


69 


Obey  these,  and  the  purpose  of  his  religion  is  ful- 
filled in  you.  Regard  these  as  your  Rule  of  Life, 
and  you  build  your  house  upon  a  rock.  Live  them 
out  indeed,  and  you  have  entered  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  —  you  even  now  enter  it."  {The  Perfect 
Life,  p.  272,  also  p.  265.) 


^  ever  freer  than  he  from  everything  like  bigotry, 
narrowness,  intolerance  or  exclusiveness.  His  writ- 
ings are  pervaded  by  a  laige,  generous  and  catholic 
spirit  which  is  truly  refreshing.  He  teaches  that 
not  heresies  of  the  head  but  heresies  of  the  heart 
or  evils  of  life  are  the  things  which  alone  shut  us 
out  of  the  Kingdom ;  and  that  men  may  differ 
widely  in  their  doctrinal  beliefs,  and  yet  be  closely 
united  in  the  great  and  ruling  purpose  of  their  lives, 
—  may  be  one  in  the  bonds  of  charity,  and  all  mem- 
bers therefore  of  the  one  true  church. 

"In  the  spiritual  world,"  he  says,  "to  which  every 
man  goes  after  death,  it  is  not  the  character  of  your 
faith  into  which  inquiry  is  made,  nor  of  your  doc- 
trine, but  of  your  life,  whether  it  had  been  of  this 
character  or  that."    (D.  P.,  n.  101.) 


X. 


CATHOLICITY. 


sectarian.    No  man  was 


7o 


S  VVEDEN'B  OR  G  AND  CHANNING. 


"  Let  this  truth  be  received  as  a  principle  that 
love  to  the  Lord  and  charity  towards  our  neighbor 
are  the  essentials  of  all  doctrine  and  all  worship, 
.  .  .  then,  every  one  would  say  of  another,  in  what- 
soever doctrine  or  in  whatsoever  external  worship 
he  might  be  principled,  This  is  my  brother :  I  see 
that  he  worships  the  Lord,  and  that  he  is  a  good 
man."    (A.  C,  n.  2385.) 

"  It  is  very  common  for  those  who  have  con- 
ceived an  opinion  respecting  any  truth  of  faith,  to 
conclude  that  others  cannot  be  saved  except  by 
believing  as  they  do ;  which,  nevertheless,  the  Lord 
forbids,  Matt.  vii.  1,  2.  Accordingly  it  has  been 
made  known  to  me  by  much  experience,  that  per- 
sons of  every  religion  are  saved,  if,  by  a  life  of 
charity,  they  have  received  remains  of  good  and  of 
apparent  truth.  The  life  of  charity  consists  in  a 
man's  desiring  and  seeking  the  good  of  others,  and 
perceiving  joy  in  himself  at  their  salvation."  (A. 
C,  n.  2284.  And  scores  of  similar  extracts  might 
be  made.) 

How  similar  to  this  are  many  passages  that  we 
meet  with  in  the  writings  of  Channing !  This,  in- 
deed, is  the  general  spirit  and  drift  of  all  his  teach- 
ing. We  cannot  find  in  his  writings  a  single  para- 
graph in  conflict  with  it.  Speaking  of  "the  pecu- 
liarly close  and  tender ,  unions  which  necessarily 
subsist  among  all  the  enlightened  and  sincere  disci- 


CATHOLICITY. 


7* 


pies  of  such  a  religion  as  Christ's,"  no  matter  what 
their  distinguishing  name  or  creed  —  "a  religion," 
he  says,  "  whose  soul,  essence,  and  breath  of  life  is 
love,"  he  continues  :  — 

"  Has  not  Paul  taught  us  that  there  is  but  one 
perfect  bond,  Love  (Col.  fh\  14)?  Has  not  Christ 
taught  us  that  the  seal  set  on  his  disciples  by  which 
all  men  are  to  know  them,  is  Love  (John  xiii.  35)? 
Is  not  this  the  badge  of  the  true  church,  the  life  of 
the  true  body  of  Christ  ?  And  is  not  every  disciple, 
of  every  name  and  form,  who  is  inspired  with  this, 
embraced  indissolubly  in  the  Christian  union?" 
(Works,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  213.) 

Again  in  the  same  discourse  :  — 

"We  must  shun  the  spirit  of  sectarianism  as  from 
hell.  We  must  shudder  at  the  thought  of  shutting 
up  God  in  any  denomination.  We  must  think  no 
man  the  better  for  belonging  to  our  communion ; 
no  man  the  worse  for  belonging  to  another.  We 
must  look  with  undiminished  joy  on  goodness, 
though  it  shine  forth  from  the  most  adverse  sect.  .  . 
To  confine  God's  love  or  his  good  Spirit  to  any 
party,  sect,  or  name,  is  to  sin  against  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  Kingdom  of  God."   (Ibid.,  p.  211.) 

"  One  of  the  greatest  wrongs  to  Christ  is,  to  de- 
spise his  character,  his  virtue,  in  a  disciple  who  hap- 
pens to  wear  a  different  name  from  our  own.  .  . 
Think  no  man  the  better,  no  man  the  worse,  for  the 
church  he  belongs  to.    Try  him  by  his  fruits.  Ex- 


72  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


pel  from  your  breasts  the  demon  of  sectarianism, 
narrowness,  bigotry,  intolerance.  This  is  not,  as 
we  are  apt  to  think,  a  slight  sin.  It  is  a  denial  of 
the  supremacy  of  goodness.  It  sets  up  something, 
whether  a  form  or  dogma,  above  the  virtue  of  the 
heart  and  life.  Sectarianism  immures  itself  in  its 
particular  church  as  in  a  dungeon,  and  is  there  cut 
off  from  the  free  air,  the  cheerful  light,  the  goodly 
prospects,  the  celestial  beauty  of  the  church  univer- 
sal." (Ibid.,  pp.  224,  '5.) 

And  often  elsewhere  in  his  writings  we  meet  with 
the  same  catholic  sentiments. 


XI. 

THE  CHURCH  UNIVERSAL. 

SWEDENBORG  says  that  the  real  church,  which 
consists  essentially  in  good  and  truth,  or  in 
charity  and  faith,  "  is  in  man  and  not  out  of  him  ;  " 
that  it  is  the  same  with  the  church  as  it  is  with 
heaven  and  with  hell,  neither  of  which  "  can  be  said 
to  be  without  one  but  within  him."  Hence  "  every 
man  in  whom  the  Lord  is  present  in  the  good  of 
love  and  faith,  is  a  church  "  in  the  smallest  form ; 
and  "the  church  in  general  consists  of  the  men  in 
whom  the  church  is."  And  some  of  these,  he  says, 
are  to  be  found  not  only  in  the  various  Christian 


THE  CHURCH  UNIVERSAL. 


73 


denominations,  but  outside  of  them  all  —  in  countries 
that  know  nothing  about  Christianity.  For  the 
Lord  has  provided  that  there  shall  be  some  religion 
among  all  people,  "  and  that  in  every  religion  there 
be  these  two  essentials,  the  acknowledgment  of  a 
God  and  the  shunning  of  evil  as  sin." 

"  Hence  it  is  evident,"  he  says,  "  that  the  Lord's 
church  is  not  here  nor  there,  but  everywhere,  as 
well  without  as  within  those  kingdoms  where  the 
church  [in  possession  of  the  Word]  is,  where  the 
life  is  formed  according  to  the  precepts  of  charity. 
Therefore  the  Lord's  church  is  spread  throughout 
the  whole  world ;  and  yet  it  is  one."    (A.  C,  n.  81 52.) 

Precisely  the  same  idea  is  found  in  many  parts  of 
Channing's  works.  He  held  and  taught  that  both 
heaven  and  hell  are  states  of  life,  and  as  such  exist 
necessarily  within  men  ;  that  they  are  opposite  states 
—  as  opposite  as  light  and  darkness,  good  and  evil. 
"  Heaven  and  hell  have  their  seat  in  the  soul,"  is 
one  of  his  expressions.  And  as  heaven  is  within, 
and  consists  of  a  certain  spiritual  nearness  or  like- 
ness to  Jesus  Christ,  so  likewise  the  church.  "There 
is,"  he  says,  "a  far  higher  likeness  to  Christ  than 
the  artist  ever  drew  or  chiseled.  It  exists  in  the 
heart  of  his  true  disciple."  And  accordingly  he 
adds :  "  The  truest  church  is  that  which  has  in  the 
highest  degree  this  spiritual  presence  of  our  Lord, 
this  revelation  of  Jesus  in  his  followers."  And  while 
7 


74 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHAINING. 


holding  to  the  importance  and  need  of  "  particular 
churches  organized  according  to  some  particular 
forms,"  he  believed  with  Swedenborg  in  a  still  more 
comprehensive  church  —  a  church  universal. 

"  There  is  a  grander  church  than  all  particular 
ones,  however  extensive ;  the  church  Catholic  or 
Universal,  spread  over  all  lands,  and  one  with  the 
church  in  heaven.  .  .  Into  this  church  all  who  par- 
take the  spirit  of  Christ  are  admitted.  .  .  The  word 
Catholic  means  Universal.  Would  to  God  that  the 
church  which  has  usurped  the  name  had  understood 
the  reality!  Still,  Romanism  has  done  something  to 
give  to  its  members  the  idea  of  their  connection  with 
that  vast  spiritual  company  or  church  which  has  ex- 
isted in  all  times  and  spread  over  all  lands."  ( Works, 
Vol.  VI.,  pp.  203-6.) 


XII. 

VARIETY  IN  THE  CHURCH. 
OTH  these  writers  saw  also  that  unity  in  the 


■L'  church  does  not  mean  uniformity,  or  perfect 
agreement  in  doctrine  or  ritual.  Both  saw  that 
God  delights  in  variety ;  that  diversity  is  stamped 
on  all  his  works ;  and  that  diversity  in  forms  of 
religious  faith  and  outward  worship,  is  therefore  as 
truly  a  thing  of  divine  order  and  as  compatible  with 
complete  unity,  as  diversity  in  the  landscape  or  in 


VARIETY  IN  THE  CHURCH. 


75 


the  forms  and  functions  of  the  organs  composing 
the  human  body;  and  that  the  unity  of  the  church 
and  of  heaven  is  all  the  more  perfect  on  account 
of  the  variety  that  belongs  to  each.  Thus  Sweden- 
borg  says :  — 

"Oneness  in  heaven  is  constituted  of  several  va- 
rious things,  so  arranged  by  the  Lord  as  to  be  in 
harmony  with  each  other.  .  .  The  case  herein  is 
like  that  of  the  organs,  members  and  viscera  of  the 
body,  no  one  of  which  is  altogether  like  another,  but 
all  are  various ;  and  yet  they  make  one  in  conse- 
quence of  their  all  having  relation  to  one  soul,  and 
thereby  to  heaven,  and  thus  to  the  Lord."  (A.  C, 
n.  3241.)  "The  same  maybe  said  concerning  the 
church  as  concerning  heaven  ;  for  the  church  is  the 
Lord's  heaven  on  earth."    (H.  H.,  n.  57.) 

"  Mutual  love  and  charity  are  effective  of  unity  or 
oneness  even  among  varieties.  For  let  numbers  be 
multiplied  ever  so  many  times,  even  to  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands,  if  all  are  principled  in  charity 
or  mutual  love,  they  all  have  one  end,  viz.,  the  com- 
mon good,  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  and  the  Lord 
Himself.  In  which  case  the  varieties  in  matters  of 
doctrine  and  worship  are  like  the  varieties  of  the 
senses  and  viscera  in  man,  which  contribute  to  the 
perfection  of  the  whole."    (A.  C,  n.  1285.) 

And  in  Channing  we  meet  with  substantially  the 
same  kind  of  teaching. 


76 


S WEDENB OR G  AND  CHANNING. 


"  We  have  grown  up  under  different  influences. 
We  bear  different  names.  But  if  we  purpose  sol- 
emnly to  do  God's  will,  and  are  following  the  pre- 
cepts and  example  of  Christ,  we  are  one  church,  and 
let  nothing  divide  us.  Diversities  of  opinion  may- 
incline  us  to  worship  under  different  roofs;  or 
diversities  of  tastes  or  habit,  to  worship  with  dif- 
ferent forms.  But  these  varieties  are  not  schisms  ; 
they  do  not  break  the  unity  of  Christ's  church.  We 
may  still  honor  and  love  and  rejoice  in  one  another's 
spiritual  life  and  progress  as  truly  as  if  We  were  cast 
into  one  and  the  same  unyielding  form.  God  loves 
variety  in  nature  and  in  the  human  soul ;  nor  does 
He  reject  it  in  Christian  worship."  [Works,  Vol. 
VI.,  pp.  225,  '6.) 


XIII. 

THE  TRUE  WORSHIP. 

AT  the  time  Swedenborg  wrote,  formal  worship  — 
praying  on  bended  knees  in  the  temple  or  the 
closet  —  was  the  only  kind  of  worship  that  Chris- 
tians thought  of.  But  he  tells  us  of  another  and 
higher  kind  —  a  worship  which  consists  in  the  con- 
scientious and  faithful  performance  of  each  one's 
daily  duties,  and  for  which  it  is  the  chief  end  of  oral 
or  formal  worship  to  fit  and  prepare  us.  And  this 
higher  kind  of  worship,  he  says,  is  what  is  meant  by 


THE  TRUE  WORSHIP. 


77 


the  worship  of  the  Father  "in  spirit  and  in  truth;" 
a  worship  offered  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  where 
the  voice  of  duty  is  reverently  heeded  —  where  sor- 
row and  suffering  are  patiently  borne,  loving  service 
faithfully  rendered,  and  useful  work  of  any  kind  hon- 
estly done. 

"  By  the  worship  of  God  at  this  day,"  he  says,  "is 
meant  principally  the  worship  of  the  mouth  in  a 
temple  morning  and  evening.  But  the  worship  of 
God  does  not  consist  essentially  in  this,  but  in  a  life 
of  uses."    (A.  C.,  n.  7884.) 

"  He  who  thinks  that  the  worship  of  the  Lord 
consists  solely  in  frequenting  the^  temple,  hearing 
preaching  there,  and  praying,  and  that  this  is 
enough,  is  much  deceived.  The  real  worship  of  the 
Lord  consists  in  the  performance  of  uses ;  and  uses 
consist,  during  a  man's  life  in  the  world,  in  the  faith- 
ful discharge  of  every  one's  duty  in  his  particular 
vocation  ;  that  is,  in  serving  his  country,  society  and 
his  neighbor  from  the  heart,  in  acting  with  sincerity 
in  all  his  relations,  and  in  performing  duties  pru- 
dently according  to  the  nature  of  each.  These  uses 
are  in  the  highest  degree  the  exercises  of  charity,  and 
those  whereby  the  Lord  is  principally  worshiped. 
Frequenting  the  temple,  listening  to  sermons,  and 
saying  prayers  are  also  necessary ;  but  without  uses, 
they  are  of  no  avail,  for  they  are  not  of  the  life, 
but  teach  what  the  quality  of  the  life  should  be. 
The  angels  in  heaven  have  all  their  happiness  from 
7* 


73 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


uses  and  according  to  uses ;  for  to  them  uses  are 
heaven  —  happiness,  in  the  Divine  economy,  being 
always  according  to  uses."    (A.  C,  n.  7038.) 

And  Channing :  — 

"  From  the  peculiar  character  of  the  worship  to 
which  this  house  [the  church  edifice  at  Newport, 
R.  I.]  is  consecrated,  you  learn  the  kind  of  worship 
which  you  should  carry  from  it  into  your  common 
lives.  .  .  Mercy,  love,  is  more  acceptable  worship  to 
God  than  all  sacrifices  or  outward  offerings.  .  .  Be 
such  the  worship  which  you  shall  carry  from  this 
place.  Go  forth. to  do  good  with  every  power  which 
God  bestows,  to  make  every  place  you  enter  happier 
by  your  presence,  to  espouse  all  human  interests,  to 
throw  your  whole  weight  into  the  scale  of  human 
freedom  and  improvement,  to  withstand  all  wrong, 
to  uphold  all  right,  and  especially  to  give  light,  life, 
strength  to  the  immortal  soul."  {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p. 
335.)  In  other  words,  faithfully  perform  the  highest 
uses  you  are  capable  of,  in  humble  acknowledgment 
of  the  Lord  as  the  source  of  your  ability  and  dispo- 
sition—  this  was  Channing's  idea  of  the  highest  kind 
of  worship.  And  precisely  this  was  the  idea  of  the 
Swedish  sage. 

Again :  — 

"  To  do  the  Will  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  —  to 
form  ourselves  after  the  purest  Ideal  of  Goodness, 
which  Nature,  Conscience,  Revelation  present  as  a 


GOD'S  END  IN  CREATION. 


79 


pattern, —  is  the  great  work  of  earthly  existence. 
This  practical  use  of  the  Gospel  is  the  only  saving 
Faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  For  we  know  Him  and  be- 
lieve in  Him  only  so  far  as  we  recognize,  love  and 
imitate  the  Perfection  of  his  Character  and  Life.  To 
prefer  Universal  Rectitude,  the  boundless  Love  of 
God  and  fellow  beings,  the  perfect  love,  before  all 
other  good,  is  the  only  true  wisdom,  is  the  only  real 
worship."    (The  Perfect  Life,  p.  283.) 


XIV. 

GOD'S  END  IN  CREATION. 

SWEDENBORG  says  that  the  supreme  or  final 
end  in  the  creation  of  the  universe  was,  "  a 
heaven  of  angels  from  the  human  race;"  —  a  count- 
less host  of  immortal  beings,  capable  of  receiving  an 
ever-increasing  measure  of  the  Creator's  own  intelli- 
gence and  benevolence  —  of  being  made  unspeak- 
ably happy  in  the  reception  and  exercise  of  his  own 
wisdom  and  love.  And  we  can  conceive  of  no 
higher  or  nobler  end  than  this  —  of  none  more 
worthy  a  Being  of  Infinite  Benevolence. 

"  By  long-continued  intercourse  with  angels  and 
spirits,"  says  the  great  seer,  "  it  has  been  made 
known  and  proved  to  me,  that  heaven  does  not 
consist  of  any  angels  created  such  at  the  begin- 


80  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNJNG. 


ning;  and  that  hell  is  not  from  any  devil  created 
an  angel  of  light  and  cast  out  of  heaven ;  but  that 
both  are  from  the  human  race, —  heaven  from  those 
who  are  in  the  love  of  the  good  and  the  consequent 
understanding  of  the  true,  and  hell  from  those  who 
are  in  the  love  of  evil  and  the  consequent  under- 
standing of  the  false.  .  .  Now  as  heaven  is  from  the 
human  race,  and  is  an  eternal  abode  with  the  Lord, 
it  must  have  been  the  Lord's  end  in  creation,  and 
therefore  the  end  of  the  Divine  Providence  itself. 
The  Lord  did  not  create  the  universe  for  the  sake 
of  Himself,  but  for  those  with  whom  He  is  to  dwell 
in  heaven  ;  for  spiritual  love  is  of  such  a  nature  that 
it  wishes  to  impart  its  own  to  another,  and  so  far  as 
it  can  do  this,  it  is  in  its  esse,  its  peace  and  its  beati- 
tude. This  nature  it  derives  from  the  Lord's  Divine 
Love  which  is  such  infinitely.  Hence  the  end  of 
the  Divine  Love,  and  consequently  of  the  Divine 
Providence,  is  a  heaven  which  shall  consist  of  men 
who  have  become  or  are  becoming  angels,  to  whom 
the  Lord  can  impart  all  the  blessedness  and  happi- 
ness of  love  and  wisdom,  and  this,  moreover,  from 
Himself  resident  within  them  ;  —  ...  Himself  in 
them  being  love  united  to  wisdom  and  wisdom 
united  to  love,  or  what  is  the  same,  the  good 
united  to  the  true  and  the  true  to  the  good."  (D. 
P.,  n.  27.) 

And  this  indwelling  of  the  Lord's  own  life  in  the 
souls  He  has  created,  through  their  own  free  and 


GOD'S  END  IN  CREATION.  8 1 

voluntary  reception  thereof,  and  their  equally  free 
rejection  of  the  selfish  or  opposite  kind  of  life,  is 
what  constitutes  the  sum  of  human  excellence,  the 
perfection  of  human  character,  the  height  of  human 
bliss,  the  essence  of  heaven  and  of  the  church  in 
man. 

"The  Lord's  heaven  in  the  natural  world  is  called 
the  church ;  and  an  angel  of  this  heaven  is  a  man 
of  the  church  who  is  conjoined  to  the  Lord,  and 
who  also  becomes  an  angel  of  the  spiritual  heaven 
after  his  departure  from  the  world.  Obviously,  there- 
fore, what  has  been  said  of  the  angelic  heaven,  must 
be  understood  of  the  human  heaven  which  is  called 
the  church."    (D.  P.,  30.) 

And  the  very  same  thought,  though  differently 
expressed,  is  often  met  with  in  the  works  of  Chan- 
ning.  Thus  he  says:  "The  design  of  the  Heavenly 
Father  in  the  whole  creation,"  is  "to  train  up  his 
spiritual  children  to  immortal  goodness ;  "  that  all 
his  laws  are  "  a  welcome  summons  to  universal, 
disinterested  love  " — "  a  love  which  in  itself  is  joy." 
"  His  great  end,"  he  continues,  "  is  to  unite  all  be- 
ings by  universal  justice  and  love, —  to  bring  all 
spirits  into  harmony  by  moral  bonds, —  to  reconcile 
all  that  is  partial,  narrow,  selfish,  separate, — to  make 
all  spirits  one  by  love."  {Memoirs,  Vol.  III.,  p.  406.) 
And  when  this  end  is  attained,  there  exists  a  heaven 
of  angels  from  the  human  race. 

F 


S  WEDENB  ORG  AND  CI  I  A  NNIN  G. 


Again:  Speaking  of  the  central  principle  and  pur- 
pose of  Christianity,  —  which,  when  we  have  fully 
grasped  we  have  comprehended  God's  great  end  in 
creation,  —  he  says  :  — 

"  I  believe  that  Christianity  has  one  great  prin- 
ciple which  is  central,  around  which  all  its  truths 
gather,  and  which  constitutes  it  the  Glorious  Gospel 
of  the  Blessed  God.  .  .  This  great  Principle  can  be 
briefly  expressed.  It  is  the  doctrine,  that  God  pur- 
poses, in  his  unbounded  Fatherly  Love,  to  perfect 
the  human  soul;  to  purify  it  from  all  sin;  to  create 
it  after  his  own  image;  to  fill  it  with  his  own  spirit; 
to  unfold  it  forever;  to  raise  it  to  Life  and  Immor- 
tality in  Heaven  ;  —  that  is,  to  communicate  to  it 
from  Himself  a  Life  of  Celestial  Power,  Virtue,  Joy. 
The  elevation  of  men  above  the  imperfections,  temp- 
tations, sins,  sufferings,  of  the  present  state,  to  a 
diviner  being,  —  [and  what  is  this  but  the  formation 
of  a  heaven  of  angels?]  this  is  the  great  purpose  of 
God,  revealed  and  accomplished  by  Jesus  Christ.  .  . 

"In  the  New  Testament  I  learn,  that  what  God 
wills  is  our  perfection  ;  by  which  I  understand  the 
freest  exercise  and  perpetual  development  of  our 
highest  powers  —  strength  and  brightness  of  intel- 
lect, unconquerable  energy  of  moral  purpose,  pure 
and  fervent  desire  for  truth,  unbounded  love  of  good- 
ness and  greatness,  benevolence  free  from  every 
selfish  taint,  the  perpetual  consciousness  of  God  and 
of  his  immediate  Presence,  co-operation  and  friend- 


THE  RESURRECTION. 


83 


ship  with  all  enlightened  and  disinterested  spirits, 
and  radiant  glory  of  benign  will  and  beneficent  in- 
fluence, of  which  we  have  an  emblem  — a  faint  em- 
blem only  —  in  the  Sun  that  illuminates  and  warms 
so  many  worlds.  Christianity  reveals  to  me  this 
Moral  Perfection  of  man,  as  the  great  purpose  of 
God."    (The  Perfect  Life,  pp.  245,  '6.) 

And  this,  again,  is  the  very  same  as  saying  what 
Swedenborg  has  said  many  times,  that  "  God's  end 
in  the  creation  of  the  universe,  was  a  heaven  of 
angels  from  the  human  race." 


XV. 

THE  RESURRECTION. 

SWEDENBORG  says  that  the  spirit  or  soul  of 
man  is  the  real  man ;  that  it  is  in  the  human 
form,  and  composed  of  spiritual  substance  which  is 
the  only  real  and  enduring  substance ;  that  it  is  en- 
dowed with  senses  far  more  acute  than  those  of  the 
body;  and  that,  when  the  body  dies,  the  spirit  is 
released  from  all  connection  with  it,  and  enters  con- 
sciously upon  another  stage  of  existence  in  a  con- 
genial realm  where  all  things  are  spiritual  —  its  char- 
acter or  dominant  affections  remaining  unchanged. 
This  separation  of  the  real  man  from  his  outer  "  ves- 
ture of  decay,"  and  his  conscious  entrance  into  the 


84 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNINC. 


spiritual  world,  is  what  is  meant,  he  says,  by  the 
resurrection.  The  body  that  is  cast  off  returns  to 
its  original  dust,  and  will  never  again  be  needed, 
and  of  course  will  never  be  resumed.  And  all  this 
he  learned  (if  we  may  take  his  word  for  it)  by  long 
and  open  intercourse  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed, 
many  of  whom  he  had  known  in  the  flesh.  To  quote 
a  single  passage:  — 

"  The  internal  of  man  is  the  spirit,  and  the  ex- 
ternal is  the  body.  The  external  or  body  is  suited 
to  the  performance  of  uses  in  the  natural  world,  and 
is  rejected  or  laid  aside  at  death ;  but  the  internal 
called  the  spirit,  and  which  is  suited  to  the  perform- 
ance of  uses  in  the  spiritual  world,  never  dies.  This 
internal,  after  death,  exists  as  a  good  spirit  or  angel 
if  the  man  had  been  good  during  his  abode  in  the 
world;  but  if  he  had  lived  in*evil  during  that  time, 
he  is  an  evil  spirit  after  death. 

"After  the  dissolution  of  the  body,  a  man's  spirit 
appears  in  the  spiritual  world  in  the  human  form 
altogether  as  in  the  natural  world.  He  enjoys  the 
faculty  of  seeing,  hearing,  speaking  and  feeling  as 
he  did  in  the  world ;  and  he  is  endowed  with  every 
power  of  thought,  will  and  action  as  when  he  was 
in  the  world.  In  a  word,  he  is  a  man  in  every 
respect  even  to  the  smallest  particular,  except  that 
he  is  not  encompassed  with  the  gross  body  which 
he  had  in  the  world.  He  leaves  this  when  he  dies, 
nor  does  he  ever  resume  it.    This  continuation  of 


THE  RESURRECTION. 


35 


life  is  what  is  meant  by  the  Resurrection."  (N.  J. 
D.,  n.  224,  '5.) 

And  precisely  this  seems  to  have  been  Chan- 
ning's  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  resurrection  —  an 
idea  formed,  however,  in  a  manner  quite  different 
from  that  claimed  by  the  illustrious  Swede. 

"  We  shall  be  the  same  beings  in  heaven,"  he 
says,  "  as  on  earth.  We  shall  retain  our  present 
faculties,  our  present  affections.  .  .  We  shall  prob- 
ably, too,  have  bodies  [spiritual,  of  course,  as  we 
shall  then  inhabit  a  spiritual  realm  —  and  in  the 
human  form]  —  the  eye  to  behold  creation  and  re- 
ceive its  beauties,  the  ear  to  hear  the  voice  of 
friendship  and  to  receive  the  pleasures  of  harmony, 
and  every  sense  refined  and  purified.  .  .  When  Moses 
and  Elijah  conversed  with  Jesus  on  the  Mount,  they 
appeared  in  the  human  form,  differing  from  ours  only 
in  its  splendor."  {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  22.  See  also 
his  sermon  on  ''Immortality"  "  The  Future  Life"  and 
"  The  Evil  of  Sin,"  Vol.  IV.,  Works.) 
8 


86 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANINNG. 


XVI. 

CHARITY,  OR  LOVE  OF  THE  NEIGHBOR. 

IN  nearly  all  great  reformers  we  discover  some  lack 
of  moderation,  some  tendency  towards  extrava- 
gance or  excess,  some  tinge  of  fanaticism.  Their 
zeal  for  a  principle,  in  itself  true  and  right,  is  apt  to 
lead  them  to  overlook  times  and  circumstances  and 
moral  conditions,  and  every  other  consideration  in 
the  application  of  that  principle. 

For  example,  there  have  been  men  so  impressed 
by  the  horrors  of  war  and  so  imbued  with  the  love 
of  peace,  that  they  have  adopted  the  principle  of 
non-resistance,  as  the  only  true,  safe  or  Christian  prin- 
ciple ;  —  believing  that  the  Lord's  words,  "  I  say  unto 
you  that  ye  resist  not  evil,"  are  to  be  literally  obeyed 
by  all  his  followers  and  under  all  circumstances. 

But  Swedenborg  was  as  remarkable  for  his  free- 
dom from  everything  like  fanaticism  as  from  every- 
thing like  license.  He  teaches  that  to  expose, 
resist  and  punish  evil-doers,  whether  their  offences 
be  against  the  church,  the  state,  the  community,  or 
ourselves  individually,  is  the  truest  exercise  of  char- 
ity—  is  best  for  the  offenders  themselves  as  well  as 
for  all  others.  Thus,  on  the  subject  of  neighborly 
love  or  charity,  and  how  it  is  to  be  exercised  towards 
different  classes  of  persons,  he  says  :  — 


CHARITY,  OR  LOVE  OF  THE  NEIGHBOR.  87 


"  To  love  the  neighbor  is  not  only  to  wish  well 
and  do  good  to  a  relation,  a  friend  and  a  good  man, 
but  also  to  a  stranger,  an  enemy  and  a  wicked  man. 
But  charity  is  to  be  exercised  towards  the  latter  in 
one  way,  towards  the  former  in  another ;  towards  a 
relation  and  friend  by  direct  benefits ;  towards  an 
enemy  and  a  wicked  man  by  indirect  benefits  which 
are  conferred  by  exhortation,  discipline,  punishment, 
and  his  consequent  amendment.  This  may  be  illus- 
trated thus : — 

"  A  judge  who  by  law  and  justice  punishes  an 
evil-doer,  loves  his  neighbor;  for  so  he  makes  him 
better,  and  consults  the  welfare  of  the  citizens  that 
he  may  not  do  them  harm.  Every  one  knows  that 
a  father  who  punishes  his  children  when  they  do 
wrong,  loves  them  ;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
who  does  not  punish  them  therefor,  loves  their  evils, 
and  this  cannot  be  called  charity.  Again,  if  a  man 
repels  an  insulting  enemy,  and  in  self-defence  strikes 
him,  or  delivers  him  to  the  judge  so  as  to  prevent 
injury  to  himself,  with  a  disposition,  nevertheless,  to 
befriend  the  man,  he  acts  from  a  principle  of  charity. 
Wars,  the  object  of  which  is  to  defend  the  country 
and  the  church,  are  not  contrary  to  charity.  The 
end  in  view  declares  whether  it  is  charity  or  not." 
(T.  C.  R.,  n.  407.) 

And  a  similar  freedom  from  everything  like  ex- 
cess, extravagance  and  fanaticism,  is  to  be  met  with 


88  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


everywhere  in  Channing's  writings ;  always  good, 
sober,  common  sense.  And  on  the  subject  here  in- 
troduced for  illustration,  his  teaching  is  identical 
with  that  of  Swedenborg.  Thus,  in  his  letter  to 
Miss  Roscoe,  of  Liverpool,  who  had  asked  his  opin- 
ion of  her  book  on  the  "  Unlawfulness  of  War,"  a 
copy  of  which  she  had  sent  him,  he  says,  with  his 
characteristic  frankness :  — 

"  I  think  the  author  has  erred  fundamentally 
in  supposing  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to 
obey  the  laws  of  Christianity  without  reasoning 
about  them,  or  that  our  religion  prescribes  particu- 
lar acts  or  courses  which  we  are  to  follow  without 
a  thought  of  consequences.  .  .  The  laws  of  Christi- 
anity enjoin  a  spirit  or  inward  principle,  leaving  us 
very  much  to  our  own  discretion  as  to  the  mode 
of  applying  it.  The  precept  'Resist  not  evil,'  is 
plainly  to  be  understood  with  much  limitation ;  for, 
were  it  literally  followed,  without  exception,  by  the 
private  individual  and  magistrate,  all  government, 
domestic  and  civil,  would  cease,  and  society  would 
fall  a  prey  to  its  worst  members.  The  precept  was 
not  intended  to  forbid  all  resistance,  but  to  forbid 
the  bad  passions  from  which  resistance  generally 
springs.  .  .  Christianity  is  intended  to  raise  us  to 
universal,  unbounded  love,  and  the  only  question  is, 
whether  war  is  inconsistent  with  this  spirit.  You 
may  say  it  is.    You  may  ask,  How  can  I  turn 


CHARITY,  OR  LOVE  OF  THE  NEIGHBOR.  89 

against  one  whom  I  sincerely  love,  instruments  of 
death  ? 

"  I  answer,  It  is  very  possible  to  possess  a  sincere 
regard  for  the  happiness  of  another  being,  sympa- 
thize strongly  with  his  sufferings,  and  yet  to  subject 
him  to  severe  suffering,  and  even  to  death.  How 
often  does  a  judge  pass  sentence  on  a  criminal  for 
whom  he  feels  deeply !  I  am  to  love  bad  men ; 
but  I  am  also  to  love  society,  to  love  my  family, 
my  friends,  my  country ;  and  if  the  bad  man  arm 
himself  for  the  ruin  of  these,  I  am  bound  to  repel 
him.  In  so  doing,  do  I  not  act  from  a  principle 
of  charity,  especially  if  to  save  the  good,  to  defend 
the  community,  I  expose  my  own  life  in  resisting 
the  bad  ?  I  can  certainly  oppose  a  wicked  man's 
purposes,  and  in  so  doing  can  inflict  on  him  severe 
pain,  without  hating  him,  and  even  with  the  deepest 
grief  for  his  character  and  punishment.  I  may  even 
feel,  through  the  strength  of  my  philanthropy,  a  se- 
verer pain  than  I  inflict.  War,  then,  is  not  neces- 
sarily inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  Christian  love." 
{Memoirs,  Vol.  III.,  p.  19.) 
8* 


9o 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


XVII. 


SALVATION  FOR  THE  HEATHEN 
P  to  the  time  when  Swedenborg  wrote,  it  was  a 


^  part  of  the  creed  of  Christendom  that  salvation 
for  any  but  Christians  was  wholly  out  of  the  ques- 
tion; —  that  all  in  heathen  lands,  therefore,  unless 
converted  to  the  Christian  religion,  must  perish 
everlastingly.  This  belief  was  one  of  the  legiti- 
mate offspring  of  the  generally  received  doctrines 
of  a  vicarious  atonement  and  salvation  by  faith 
alone.  For  these  doctrines,  and  even  the  particular 
form  in  which  they  were  held,  being  regarded  as 
absolutely  essential  to  salvation,  the  damnation  of 
all  unconverted  heathen  followed  as  a  logical  and 
necessary  conclusion.  For  how  could  people  be- 
lieve in  a  vicarious  atonement,  who  never  heard 
of  a  crucified  Redeemer?  Yet,  for  not  believing 
in  that  of  which  they  never  heard,  millions  of 
human  beings  (so  Christians  have  held  and  taught) 
must  be  shut  out  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
suffer  the  torments  of  the  damned  forever ! 

The  human  imagination  cannot  conceive  of  a 
more  unreasonable  or  revolting  doctrine  than  this, 
or  one  more  derogatory  to  the  character  of  the 
Heavenly  Father.  Every  one  who  allows  himself 
to  think  apart  from  his  creed,  or  who  consults  the 


SALVATION  FOR  THE  HEATHEN.  9 1 


feelings  and  intuitions  of  his  better  nature,  knows 
that  such  a  doctrine  cannot  be  true ;  for  if  true,  it 
would  stamp  the  supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe 
as  the  most  abominable  of  tyrants.  The  Sacred 
Scripture,  enlightened  reason,  our  sense  of  justice, 
and  every  tender  and  humane  sentiment,  are  alike 
opposed  to  a  doctrine  so  revolting. 

And  these  same  witnesses  further  concur  in  teach- 
ing, that  He  who  is  Love  itself  and  Wisdom  itself 
could  not  create  beings  capable  of  blissful  conjunc- 
tion with  Himself,  and  then  leave  them  without 
the  means  or  possibility  of  attaining  to  that  con- 
junction. Such  a  thing  would  be  against  his  very 
nature.  The  benevolence  of  his  character  is  a  sure 
and  perpetual  guarantee  that  He  will  leave  none  of 
his  intelligent  creatures  without  the  means  of  salva- 
tion. There  must  be,  therefore,  in  every  nation  and 
for  every  people  endowed  with  a  spiritual  and  im- 
mortal nature,  some  form  of  religion  and  worship, 
and  some  truths  which,  if  religiously  obeyed,  will 
surely  bind  the  creature  to  the  Creator,  and  save  him 
from  sinking  into  the  realms  of  darkness.  And  a  com- 
plete history  of  the  various  religions  on  our  earth, 
or  a  full  account  of  their  doctrinal  teachings,  would 
show  that  such  is  actually  the  case ;  for  some  vital 
truths  —  some  simple  precepts  inculcating  a  life  of 
charity  —  would  be  found  interwoven  among  them 
all.  And  obedience  to  these  truths  must,  there- 
fore, develop  some  degree  of  heavenly  life  in  the 


92 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


receiver,  and  consequently  save  him  in  that  de- 
gree. 

Now,  what  had  Swedenborg  to  say  on  this  sub- 
ject ?  What  should  he  have  said  if  he  spoke  with 
a  divine  authority,  or  wrote  under  any  thing  like 
the  degree  of  illumination  he  professed  ?  What,  but 
the  very  thing  he  did  say  —  and  often  repeated  ? 

"It  is  a  common  opinion,"  he  says,  "that  those 
who  are  born  out  of  the  church,  who  are  called 
Heathen  or  Gentiles,  cannot  be  saved,  because  they 
have  not  the  Word  and  are  therefore  ignorant  of 
the  Lord,  without  whom  there  can  be  no  salvation. 
Nevertheless  it  may  be  known  that  they  also  are 
saved,  from  these  considerations  alone :  That  the 
mercy  of  the  Lord  is  universal,  that  is,  extended  to- 
wards every  individual ;  that  they  are  born  men  as 
well  as  those  within  the  church,  who  are  compara- 
tively few ;  and  that  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  that  they 
are  ignorant  of  the  Lord. 

"  Every  person  who  thinks  from  enlightened  rea- 
son, may  see  that  no  man  is  born  for  hell ;  for  the 
Lord  is  love  itself,  and  it  is  agreeable  to  his  love  that 
all  be  saved.  Therefore  also  He  has  provided  that 
all  shall  have  some  kind  of  religion,  and  thereby  be 
in  the  acknowledgment  of  a  Divine,  and  in  the  en- 
joyment of  interior  life."    (H.  H.,  n.  318.) 

"That  Gentiles  are  saved  as  well  as  Christians, 
may  be  known  to  those  who  understand  what  it  is 
that  makes  heaven  in  man.    For  heaven  is  in  man ; 


SALVATION  FOR  THE  HEATHEN.  93 


and  those  who  have  heaven  in  themselves  enter 
heaven  after  death."    (Ibid.,  319.) 

"  It  is  provided  by  the  Lord  that  those  whom  the 
Gospel  cannot  reach,  but  yet  some  religion,  may 
likewise  have  a  place  in  heaven,  .  .  .  and  that  they 
may  live  in  heavenly  joy  as  well  as  others.  It  mat- 
ters not  whether  a  person  be  in  such  joy  as  is  ex- 
perienced by  the  angels  of  the  highest  or  the  lowest 
heaven,  since  every  one  who  is  received  into  heaven, 
enters  into  the  supreme  or  full  joy  of  his  heart." 
(D.  P.,  254.) 

And  Channing  held  and  taught  precisely  the  same 
doctrine.  How,  indeed,  could  we  expect  a  man  of 
his  mental  freedom  and  independence,  enlightened 
reason  and  profound  spiritual  insight,  to  believe  or 
teach  any  other? 

"  Christianity,"  he  says,  "  would  furnish  a  weapon 
against  itself  not  easily  repelled,  should  it  claim  the 
distinction  of  being  the  only  light  vouchsafed  by 
God  to  men ;  for,  in  that  case,  it  would  represent 
a  vast  majority  of  the  human  race  as  left  by  their 
Creator  without  guidance  or  hope.  I  believe,  and 
rejoice  to  believe,  that  a  ray  from  Heaven  descends 
on  the  path  of  every  fellow-creature.  The  heathen, 
though  in  darkness  when  compared  with  the  Chris- 
tian, has  still  his  light ;  and  it  comes  from  the  same 
source  as  our  own,  just  as  the  same  sun  dispenses, 
now  the  faint  dawn  and  now  the  perfect  day." 
{Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  44.) 


94  SWEDENB OR G  AND  CHANNING. 

Again,  —  and  still  more  full  and  explicit,  —  in 
"  The  Perfect  Life  :  " 

"  This  doctrine  of  God's  love  to  his  heathen  off- 
spring is  one  which  we  Christians  still  need  to  learn. 
For  we,  too,  are  apt,  like  the  Jew,  to  exalt  ourselves 
above  our  less  favored  brethren.  It  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  mass  of  Christians  even  now,  that  the  heathen 
ire  the  objects  of  God's  wrath.  All  who  live  and 
die  beyond  the  sound  of  the  Gospel,  it  is  thought, 
are  doomed  to  endless  perdition.  On  this  ground 
indeed  it  is,  that  most  missionary  enterprises  rest. 
We  are  called  upon  to  send  the  Gospel  where  it  is 
not  preached,  because  men  conceive  that  beyond 
the  borders  of  Christendom  God  is  an  implacable 
Judge ;  because  no  other  parts  of  the  earth  are  be- 
lieved to  hold  communication  with  Heaven.  .  .  But 
how  can  a  sane  man  credit,  for  an  instant,  that  the 
vastly  greater  portion  of  the  human  race  is  aban- 
doned by  God?  If  Christianity  did  actually  thus 
represent  the  character  of  God,  we  might  well  ask 
what  right  we  have  to  hold  or  to  diffuse  such  a 
religion.  For  among  all  the  false  gods  of  Heathen- 
ism, can  one  be  found  more  unrighteous  and  more 
cruel  than  the  Deity  whom  such  a  system  offers  as 
an  object  for  our  worship  ?  But  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion nowhere  teaches  this  horrible  faith.  And  still 
more,  no  man  in  his  heart  does  or  can  believe  such 
an  appalling  doctrine.  Utter  it  in  words,  men  may  ; 
but  human  nature  forbids  them  to  give  it  inward 
assent."    (Pp.  65,  '6.) 


THE  TRUE  FREEDOM. 


95 


XVIII. 

THE  TRUE  FREEDOM. 

THERE  are  many  kinds  of  freedom  which  it  is 
important  to  distinguish.  There  is  natural  free- 
dom and  spiritual  freedom  ;  freedom  of  the  body 
and  freedom  of  the  soul;  civil  freedom  and  religious 
freedom  ;  intellectual  freedom  and  moral  freedom  ; 
the  freedom  of  heaven  and  the  freedom  of  hell.  But 
there  is  only  one  kind  of  genuine  spiritual  freedom ; 
and  this  is  freedom  from  the  domination  of  passion, 
appetite,  hatred,  love  of  self,  love  of  the  world,  lust 
of  dominion  —  all  the  selfish  and  evil  proclivities 
of  the  unregenerate  heart;  a  complete  mastery  over 
all  the  lower  propensities  of  our  nature,  and  a  pos- 
itive delight  in  the  free  and  healthy  exercise  of  all 
our  higher  and  nobler  faculties.  In  other  words, 
true  freedom  is  to  yield  ourselves  willingly  and  joy- 
fully to  the  prompting  influences  of  heaven ;  to  be 
led  and  governed,  in  all  our  feelings,  purposes  and 
conduct,  by  the  Lord  and  his  angels,  and  not  by  self 
or  the  spirits  that  are  imbued  and  swayed  by  the 
love  of  self.  The  true  freedom,  therefore,  differs 
from  the  spurious  or  false,  as  hatred  differs  from  love, 
good  from  evil,  heaven  from  hell.  Accordingly 
Swedenborg  says :  — 

"All  that  is  called  freedom  which  pertains  to  the 


g6  S  WEDENB  OR  G  AND  CHANNING. 

will  or  love.  Hence  it  is  that  freedom  manifests 
itself  by  the  delight  of  willing  and  thinking,  and 
thence  of  doing  and  speaking ;  for  all  delight  is  of 
love,  and  all  love  is  of  the  will.  To  do  evil  from  the 
delight  of  love  appears  like  freedom,  but  it  is  slavery 
because  it  is  from  hell.  To  do  good  from  the  de- 
light of  love,  appears  like  freedom  and  also  is  free- 
dom because  it  is  from  the  Lord.  Slavery,  there- 
fore, consists  in  being  led  of  hell,  and  freedom  in 
being  led  of  the  Lord."    (A.  C,  n.  9586.) 

"  The  freedom  of  self-love  and  the  love  of  the 
world  and  of  the  lusts  thereof,  is  quite  another  thing 
than  freedom,  being  altogether  slavery ;  but  still  it 
is  called  freedom,  just  as  love,  affection  and  delight 
are  called  by  these  names,  whether  used  in  a  good 
or  bad  sense.  Nevertheless  self-love  and  the  love 
of  the  world  are  totally  different  from  love,  being  in 
reality  hatred."   (A.  C,  n.  2884.) 

"There  is  heavenly  freedom  and  infernal  freedom. 
Heavenly  freedom  consists  in  being  led  of  the  Lord; 
and  this  freedom  is  the  love  of  good  and  truth.  But 
infernal  freedom  consists  in  being  led  of  the  devil ; 
and  this  freedom  is  the  love  of  evil  and  falsity. 
They  who  are  in  infernal  freedom  believe  there  is 
slavery  and  compulsion  in  not  being  allowed  to  do 
evil  and  think  falsity  at  pleasure;  but  they  who  are 
in  heavenly  freedom  dread  to  do  evil  and  think 
what  is  false,  and  are  tormented  if  they  are  com- 
pelled to."    (A.  C,  n.  9589,  '90.) 


THE  TRUE  FREEDOM. 


97 


And  Channing's  idea  of  the  true  freedom,  though 
differently  expressed,  does  not  differ  at  all  in  sub- 
stance from  Swedenborg's.  In  his  masterly  dis- 
course on  "  Spiritual  Freedom,"  preached  at  the 
"Annual  Election"  in  1830,  we  find  ample  confir- 
mation of  this.  After  premising  that  spiritual  free- 
dom is  "  not  a  negative  state  "  —  is  something  more 
than  "  mere  absence  of  sin,"  he  proceeds  :  — 

"  He  only  is  free,  who,  through  self-conflict  and 
moral  resolution,  sustained  by  trust  in  God,  subdues 
the  passions  which  have  debased  him,  and,  escaping 
the  thraldom  of  low  objects,  binds  himself  to  pure 
and  lofty  ones.  That  mind  alone  is  free,  which, 
looking  to  God  as  the  inspirer  and  rewarder  of 
virtue,  adopts  his  law,  written  on  the  heart  and  in 
his  Word,  as  its  supreme  rule,  and  which,  in  obedi- 
ence to  this,  governs  itself,  reveres  itself,  exerts  faith- 
fully its  best  powers,  and  unfolds  itself  by  well-doing 
in  whatever  sphere  God's  providence  assigns. 

"  I  call  that  mind  free,  which  masters  the  senses, 
which  protects  itself  against  animal  appetites,  .  .  . 
which  jealously  guards  its  intellectual  rights  and 
powers,  which  calls  no  man  master,  which  opens 
itself  to  light  whencesoever  it  may  come,  which 
receives  new  truth  as  an  angel  from  heaven,  .  .  . 
which  sets  no  bounds  to  its  love,  which  is  not  im- 
prisoned in  itself  or  in  a  sect,  .  .  .  which  delights  in 
virtue  and  sympathizes  with  suffering  wherever  they 
are  seen,  which  conquers  pride,  anger  and  sloth,  and 
9  G 


98 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


offers  itself  up  a  willing  victim  to  the  cause  of  man- 
kind, .  .  .  which,  through  confidence  in  God  and  in 
the  power  of  virtue,  has  cast  off  all  fear  but  that  of 
wrong-doing."    {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  71,  '2,  '3.) 

And  the  mind  that  is  in  this  state,  is  in  a  state  of 
cheerful  submission  to  the  will  of  the  Lord,  anxious 
to  be  led  by  Him  and  not  by  self — anxious  ever  to 
know  and  do  his  will.  And  this,  Swedenborg  tells 
us,  is  a  state  of  true  and  heavenly  freedom. 


XIX. 

THE  LETTER  AND  THE  SPIRIT. 

THE  written  Scripture,  like  the  volume  of  nature, 
abounds  in  mere  appearances  of  truth,  which  are 
very  different  from  the  real  truths  that  underlie  these 
appearances,  and  which  require  for  their  discernment 
the  faithful  exercise  of  all  our  best  faculties.  The 
most  unreasonable  and  absurd  doctrines  find  some 
support  from  the  letter  of  Scripture  interpreted  with- 
out the  light  of  reason,  or  as  the  natural  man  is  ever 
inclined  to  interpret  it.  All  the  numerous  errors 
and  corruptions  that  have  crept  into  the  church, 
have  sprung  from  a  too  literal  interpretation  of 
Scripture,  or  from  neglecting  to  exercise  reason 
and  judgment,  and  so  failing  to  discover  its  spirit 
—  or  the  deeper  meaning  which  is  wrapped  up  in 


THE  LETTER  AND  THE  SPIRIT.  99 

the  letter.  Accordingly  Swedenborg — after  telling 
us  that  there  is  a  correspondence  between  natural 
and  spiritual  things  like  that  between  the  body  and 
the  soul,  and  that  the  Sacred  Scripture  contains  a 
spiritual  as  well  as  a  natural  sense  throughout, 
which  cannot  be  discerned  without  the  exercise  of 
the  rational  understanding  —  says  :  — 

"  Now  since  the  Word  [or  Sacred  Scripture]  is 
of  such  a  nature,  the  appearances  of  truth,  which 
are  truths  clothed,  may  be  taken  for  naked  truths ; 
and  such  appearances  when  confirmed,  become  falsi- 
ties. Yet  this  is  done  by  those  who  believe  them- 
selves to  be  superior  to  others  in  wisdom,  when  yet 
they  are  not  wise;  for  wisdom  consists  in  seeing 
whether  a  thing  be  true  before  it  is  confirmed,  but 
not  in  confirming  whatever  one  pleases.  .  .  The 
former  is  the  case  with  those  who  love  truths,  and 
are  affected  by  them  because  they  are  truths,  and 
who  apply  them  to  the  purposes  of  life.  Such  per- 
sons are  enlightened  of  the  Lord,  and  see  truths 
by  the  light  of  truth.  [That  is,  they  exercise  the 
mental  faculties  with  which  God  has  endowed  them, 
and  refuse  to  accept  or  confirm  themselves  in  any 
thing  which  does  not  approve  itself  to  their  rational 
intuitions ;  and  so,  desiring  truth  for  the  purpose 
of  living  better  lives,  their  understanding  is  enlight- 
ened, and  they  discern  the  true  spirit  of  Scripture  — 
a  meaning  that  is  rational  and  useful,  but  quite  dif- 


IOO  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 

\ 

ferent  from  that  conveyed  by  the  bare  cortex  of  the 
letter."]    (D.  S.  S.(  n.  91.) 

"  All  the  heresies  which  ever  did  or  do  still  exist 
in  Christendom,  have  sprung  from  this  circumstance : 
that  men  have  taken  appearances  of  truth  [such  as 
are  found  in  the  letter  of  the  Word]  for  genuine 
truths,  and  as  such  have  confirmed  them.  .  .  And 
when  a  man  has  confirmed  himself  in  what  is  false, 
it  is  as  if  he  had  sworn  to  maintain  it ;  especially  if 
self-love  or  the  pride  of  his  own  understanding  be 
engaged  in  its  favor."    (Ibid.,  n.  92.) 

It  is  known  to  all  who  read  the  Bible,  that  the 
dispositions,  feelings  and  passions  of  unregenerate 
men,  are  not  unfrequently  attributed  to  God  in  the 
letter  of  Scripture.  He  is  said  to  be  angry,  jealous 
and  revengeful ;  to  hate,  punish,  tempt  and  cast  into 
hell.  And  such  is  the  apparent,  but  not  the  real 
truth.  The  real  truth  is  quite  the  reverse  of  this  ap- 
pearance. It  is  that  God  is  love,  mercy  and  forgive- 
ness, and  that  He  cannot  hate  or  punish  any  one. 
The  reason  that  He  sometimes  appears  to  be  and  to 
do  so,  is  because  of  the  anger,  hatred,  revenge,  and 
the  like,  in  unregenerate  human  hearts ;  for  every 
one  sees  God  from  and  according  to  his  own  state. 
To  the  supremely  selfish  heart,  therefore,  the  Divine 
Being  must  needs  appear  the  opposite  of  what  He 
really  is.  The  appearance  is  a  true  appearance,  re- 
sulting from  the  opposite  state  in  and  from  which 
He  is  viewed. 


THE  LETTER  AND  THE  SPIRIT.  IOI 


We  have  in  the  natural  realm  many  such  appear- 
ances of  truth,  which  are  very  different  from  the  truth 
itself.  Yet  we  continue  to  speak  according  to  the 
appearance,  even  after  it  is  known  that  the  language 
we  employ  does  not  express  the  real  but  only  the 
apparent  truth.  For  example,  we  say  that  the  sun 
rises  in  the  morning  and  goes  dozvn  at  evening.  Yet 
we  know  that  this  is  a  fallacy,  and  that  such  lan- 
guage, literally  interpreted,  conveys  an  idea  quite 
foreign  to  the  real  truth.  Our  reason,  along  with 
our  knowledge  of  the  solar  system,  enables  us  to 
correct  this  sensuous  appearance,  and  to  see  that 
this  apparent  upward  and  downward  movement  of 
the  sun  is  caused  by  our  own,  and  not  by  the  sun's 
motion  —  that  is,  by  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the 
earth  on  its  axis. 

And  the  universe  is  full  of  such  fallacious  appear- 
ances, which  are  gradually  dissipated  as  the  knowl- 
edge of  its  laws  increases.  But  this  can  be  effected 
only  through  the  faithful  exercise  of  the  reason  that  < 
God  has  given  us.  And  why  should  there  not  be 
the  same  fallacious  appearances  in  the  Word  as  in 
the  works  of  God  ?  —  appearances  that  can  only  be 
dissipated  by  an  increase  of  spiritual  knowledge,  or 
a  better  understanding  of  spiritual  laws,  which  can 
be  obtained  only  through  the  diligent  and  faithful 
exercise  of  our  higher  reason. 

Channing  saw  this  very  clearly.    He  saw  that  our 

9* 


102  S WEDENB OR G  AND  CHANNING. 


reason  and  all  the  higher  faculties  of  the  soul  should 
be  brought  into  requisition  when  we  read  the  writ- 
ten Scripture,  else  we  shall  be  in  continual  danger 
of  accepting  the  sensuous  appearances  of  truth  in 
the  letter  for  the  real  truth  itself,  and  so  be  led  into 
many  and  great  errors.  His  constant  effort,  there- 
fore, was,  to  penetrate  beneath  the  outer  husk  of 
Scripture,  and  get  at  its  real  kernel  —  its  underly- 
ing spirit;  ever  confident  that  this,  when  reached, 
will  be  found  in  perfect  accord  with  our  highest 
reason  as  well  as  with  our  purest  love.  He  insists 
not  less  earnestly  than  did  Swedenborg  on  the 
necessity  of  going  deeper  than  the  letter,  if  we 
would  find  in  Scripture  a  rational  and  consistent 
meaning;  and  on  the  importance,  therefore,  of  con- 
stantly and  faithfully  exercising  our  reason  and  con- 
science in  its  interpretation.  Accordingly  we  meet 
with  such  passages  in  his  works  as  the  following:  — 

"  All  sects  of  Christians  agree,  and  are  forced  to 
agree,  in  frequently  forsaking  the  literal  sense  on 
account  of  its  incongruity  with  acknowledged  truth. 
There  is,  in  fact,  no  book  in  the  world,  which  re- 
quires us  more  frequently  to  restrain  unlimited  ex- 
pressions, to  qualify  the  letter  by  the  spirit  [than 
the  Bible.]"    {Works,  Vol.  Ill,  p..  19.) 

"  It  may  be  said  of  the  New  as  well  as  the  Old 
Testament,  that  sometimes  the  letter  killeth  whilst 
the  spirit  giveth  life.  Almost  any  system  may  be 
built  on  the  New  Testament  by  a  commentator  who, 


THE  LETTER  AND  THE  SPIRIT.  103 

forgetting  the  general  scope  of  Christianity,  and  the 
lessons  of  nature  and  experience,  shall  impose  on 
every  passage  the  literal  signification  which  is  first 
offered  to  the  mind.  The  Christian  minister,  in  his 
exposition  of  the  Divine  Word,  should  avail  him- 
self of  the  aids  of  learning  and  criticism,  and  also 
of  the  aids  of  reason  and  conscience."    (Ibid.,  p.  20.) 

"With  these  views  of  the  Bible,  we  feel  it  our 
bounden  duty  to  exercise  our  reason  upon  it  perpet- 
ually, to  compare,  to  infer,  to  look  beyond  the  letter 
to  the  spirit.  .  . 

"  Need  I  descend  to  particulars,  to  prove  that  the 
Scriptures  demand  the  exercise  of  reason  ?  Take, 
for  example,  the  style  in  which  they  generally  speak 
of  God,  and  observe  how  habitually  they  apply  to 
Him  human  passions  and  organs.  Recollect  the 
declarations  of  Christ,  that  He  came  not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword ;  that  unless  we  eat  his  flesh  and 
drink  his  blood,  we  have  no  life  in  us;  that  we  must 
hate  father  and  mother,  and  pluck  out  the  right  eye." 
(Ibid.,  pp.  63,  '4.) 

And  after  affirming  his  belief  that  "  God  never 
contradicts  in  one  part  of  Scripture  what  He  teaches 
in  another;  and  never  contradicts  in  Revelation 
what  He  teaches  in  his  Works  and  Providence," 
and  that  the  true  way  to  interpret  any  written  docu- 
ment is  to  endeavor  "to  fix  the  precise  import  of  its 
parts  by  inquiring  into  its  general  spirit,"  he  con- 
cludes :  — 


104  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


"  Without  these  principles  of  interpretation,  we 
frankly  acknowledge  that  we  cannot  defend  the  di- 
vine authority  of  the  Scriptures.  Deny  us  this  lati- 
tude, and  we  must  abandon  this  book  to  its  ene- 
mies."   (Ibid.,  p.  65.) 


XX. 

THE  NEW  AGE  AND  ITS  INFLUENCE. 

SWEDENBORG  tells  us  that  a  great  event  which 
he  was  permitted  to  witness,  transpired  in  "  the 
World  of  Spirits,"  in  1757,  which  he  calls  the  Last 
General  Judgment,  and  of  which  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  speak.  By  means  of  this  event,  and  as 
a  consequence  of  it,  he  says,  a  new  and  improved 
order  of  things  was  established  in  that  world,  the 
clouds  of  obstructing  error  were  dissipated,  and  a 
freer  influx  of  heavenly  light  into  all  sincere  and 
truth-seeking  minds  on  earth  was  promoted.  It  was 
the  consummation  of  the  Old  and  the  commence- 
ment of  a  New  Christian  Age  —  an  Age  which  was 
to  be  characterized  by  new  freedom  in  spiritual 
things,  new  light  upon  all  subjects,  new  perceptions 
of  truth  and  duty,  and  new  and  better  motives  of 
action.  And  while  the  old  creeds  and  the  old  eccle- 
siastical forms  would  remain  for  some  time  un- 
changed, yet  a  new  spirit,  he  tells  us,  would  animate 


THE  NEW  AGE  AND  ITS  INFLUENCE.  105 
• 

them,  causing  the  churches  which  profess  the  old 
dogmas,  and  outwardly  appear  about  the  same  as 
they  had  previously  been,  to  be  quite  different  in- 
ternally. The  state  of  the  Christian  Church,  as 
compared  with  what  it  had  been,  would  be  as  morn- 
ing and  day  compared  with  evening  and  night. 
(Contin.  L.  J.,  n.  13.)  Thus,  he  says,  near  the  close 
of  his  treatise  on  the  Last  Judgment:  — 

"  The  state  of  the  church  hereafter  will  be  unlike 
what  it  has  been  heretofore.  It  will  be  similar,  in- 
deed, in  the  outward  form,  but  dfosimilar  in  the  in- 
ward. Churches  will  continue  divided  in  outward 
appearance  as  heretofore;  their  doctrines  will  be 
taught  as  heretofore ;  and  the  same  religions  as  now 
will  exist  among  the  Gentiles.  But  henceforth  the 
man  of  the  church  will  be  in  a  more  free  state  of 
thinking  on  matters  of  faith,  that  is,  on  spiritual 
things  which  relate  to  heaven,  because  spiritual  lib- 
erty has  been  restored  to  him ;  .  .  .  [so]  that  now, 
from  restored  liberty,  he  can,  if  he  desires,  more 
easily  perceive  interior  truths,  and  thus  be  made 
more  internal."    (L.  J.,  n.  73,  '4.) 

"After  the  Last  Judgment  was  accomplished, 
there  was  joy  in  heaven,  and  such  a  degree  of  light 
also  in  the  world  of  spirits  as  was  not  before.  .  .  A 
similar  light  also  then  arose  in  men  on  earth,  giving 
them  new  enlightenment."    (Contin.  L.  J.,  n.  30.) 

This  was  written  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago ; 
—  not  as  prophecy,  but  as  the  rational  conclusion 


106  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHAXXIXG. 

of  one  who  understood  the  connection  between  the 
two  worlds,  and  could,  therefore,  clearly  foresee  the 
effect  which  the  great  change  he  had  just  witnessed 
in  the  world  of  spirits,  must  inevitably  produce  in 
the  churches  or  the  minds  of  men  in  the  natural 
world. 

And  Channing,  writing  fifty  years  later,  confirms 
by  observation,  and  records  as  a  matter  of  history, 
what  Swedenborg  had  predicted  many  years  before. 
Speaking  of  the  gradual  defection  from  the  old  dog- 
mas of  those  who  still  professed  the  ancestral  creeds, 
and  of  the  steadily  increasing  light  in  our  century, 
he  says :  — 

"  This  silent  but  real  defection  from  Calvinism 
is  spreading  more  and  more  widely.  The  grim 
features  of  this  system  are  softening,  and  its  stern 
spirit  yielding  to  conciliation  and  charity.  We  beg 
our  readers  to  consult  for  themselves  the  two  Cate- 
chisms and  the  Confession  of  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly, and  to  compare  these  standards  of  Calvin- 
ism with  what  now  bears  its  name.  .  .  Calvinism 
has  to  contend  with  foes  more  formidable  than 
theologians,  with  foes  from  whom  it  cannot  shield 
itself  in  mystery  and  metaphysical  subtleties  [that 
is,  with  the  more  enlightened  and  rational  views 
of  this  New  Age.]  Society  is  going  forward  in 
intelligence  and  charity,  and  of  course  is  leaving 
the  theology  of  the  sixteenth  century  behind  it. 


REMISSION  OF  SINS, 


107 


We  hail  this  revolution  of  opinion  as  a  most  auspi- 
cious ev£nt  to  the  Christian  cause.  We  hear  much  at 
present  of  efforts  to  spread  the  gospel.  But  Chris- 
tianity is  gaining  more  by  the  removal  of  degrading 
errors,  than  it  would  by  armies  of  missionaries  who 
would  carry  with  them  a  corrupted  form  of  the  re- 
ligion. We  think  the  decline  of  Calvinism  [and  he 
might  have  said,  of  all  the  other  old  and  related 
dogmas]  one  of  the  most  encouraging  facts  in  our 
passing  history."    ( Works,  Vol.  I.,  p.  240.) 


XXI. 

REMISSION  OF  SINS. 

THE  prevailing  idea  among  Christians  a  hundred 
years  ago,  —  nor  has  the  idea  become  quite  ob- 
solete yet  —  respecting  the  Divine  forgiveness  or 
remission  of  sins,  was  altogether  erroneous.  It  was 
believed  that  sins  could  be  forgiven  and  the  sinning 
soul  cleansed  of  its  defilements,  by  an  act  of  imme- 
diate Divine  mercy,  or  through  the  willingness  of 
God  to  exercise  forgiveness,  as  natural  filth  may  be 
washed  from  the  body ;  and  that  this  could  be 
effected  instantaneously,  and  is  actually  granted  in 
a  moment  as  the  reward  of  faith  alone.  But  Swe- 
denborg  teaches  (or  shows  us  that  the  Scripture 
teaches)  a  very  different  doctrine.    He  says  that  the 


I08  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


Divine  Love  which  is  Mercy  itself,  is  the  very  es- 
sence of  forgiveness ;  and  that  this  Love  is  ever 
ready  and  waiting  to  flow  into  human  hearts  with 
its  ineffable  sweetness  and  delights ;  but  that  it  can 
flow  in  and  be  received  only  in  the  degree  that  we 
come  to  see  our  evils  in  the  light  of  truth,  ac- 
knowledge them,  and  shun  their  indulgence  as  sins 
against  God.  As  we  do  this,  the  evil  of  self-love 
is  overcome  or  removed,  and  the  good  of  disinter- 
ested neighborly  love  flows  in,  and  with  it  a  sweet 
and  heavenly  peace  —  a  sense  of  the  Divine  pres- 
ence which  is  essential  Love  and  Forgiveness.  So 
that  the  Divine  forgiveness  is  not  and  cannot  be 
experienced,  except  on  condition  of  repentance  and 
obedience  —  a  voluntary  self-surrender  or  turning 
away  from  moral  evil,  and  yielding  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  heavenly  charity.  Accordingly  Swedenborg 
says : — 

"  It  is  believed  by  most  people  within  the  church 
that  the  remission  of  sins  is  the  wiping  or  wash- 
ing them  away  as  of  filth  by  water ;  and  that  after 
remission  they  are  clean  and  pure  in  the  way 
in  which  they  go.  Such  an  opinion  prevails,  espe- 
cially with  those  who  ascribe  the  all  of  salvation  to 
faith  alone  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  case 
is  quite  otherwise  with  the  remission  of  sins.  The 
Lord  remits  sins  to  every  one,  since  He  is  Mercy 
itself ;  nevertheless  they  are  not  remitted  on  that 
account,  unless  a  man  performs  serious  repentance, 


REMISSION  OF  SINS. 


desists  from  evils,  and  afterwards  lives  the  life  of 
faith  and  charity,  and  this  even  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  When  this  is  done  the  man  receives  from  the 
Lord  spiritual  life  which  is  called  new  life ;  and 
when  he  looks  from  this  new  life  at  the  evils  of  his 
former  life  and  holds  them  in  aversion  and  horror, 
then  sins  are  first  remitted ;  for  then  the  man  is  kept 
in  truths  and  goods,  and  withheld  from  evils  by  the 
Lord.  Hence  it  is  evident  what  is  meant  by  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  that  it  cannot  be  granted  in 
an  hour  nor  in  a  year."  (A.  C,  9014.  See  also  A. 
C,  9443-9454.) 

That  this  was  Channing's  belief  concerning  for- 
giveness or  remission  of  sins,  is  plain  from  many 
passages  in  his  writings.  Not  only  did  he  reject  the 
old  idea,  but  he  taught  the  new  with  scarcely  less 
distinctness,  if  with  less  fullness,  than  did  Sweden- 
borg.    To  cite  here  a  single  passage  :  — 

"  Some  Christians  will  tell  me  that  the  doctrine  of 
Divine  Forgiveness  is  the  great  glory  of  Christianity. 
But,  I  ask,  to  whom  is  Divine  Forgiveness  prom- 
ised? To  all  indiscriminately?  Did  Christ  pub- 
lish from  his  Cross  absolute  unconditional  pardon  ? 
Who  does  not  know  that  throughout  the  whole 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament,  repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins  are  always  combined,  and  that  the 
last  is  invariably  used  as  a  motive  for  the  first? 
Who  is  forgiven  in  Christianity  ?  The  Prodigal ! 
10 


I  IO  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


Yes !  But  not  while  wasting  his  substance  in  riotous 
living;  but  when  heart-broken,  conscience-struck, 
he  returns  to  his  Father's  house.  Our  Father's  par- 
don was  promised  by  Jesus  to  such  as  forsake  sin 
and  obey  his  Will ;  and  this  obedience  is  the  End 
for  which  Divine  Forgiveness  is  preached."  {The 
Perfect  Life,  p.  277.) 


SALVATION:  ITS  MEANING  AND  NATURE. 
HE  prevailing  Christian  idea  of  salvation  a  hun- 


»  dred  years  ago,  was,  that  it  is  deliverance  from 
hell  and  its  torments ;  that  it  is  wrought  by  an  act 
of  immediate  Divine  mercy,  and  without  any  regard 
to  the  inner  life  or  character  of  its  subjects  —  pro- 
vided they  have  faith.  With  this  idea  Swedenborg 
is  everywhere  and  always  at  war.  According  to  his 
teachings  salvation  is  a  thing  of  degrees  —  a  certain 
advanced  spiritual  state  —  a  more  or  less  perfect, 
orderly  and  healthy  condition  of  the  human  soul. 
A  man  is  saved  in  the  degree  that  all  his  natural 
hereditary  and  selfish  proclivities  are  brought  into 
due  subjection  and  subordination  to  the  higher  and 
truly  human  faculties,  and  the  Divine  Wisdom  and 
Love  are  so  enthroned  within  him  that  he  finds  his 
chief  delight  in  learning  and  doing  the  will  of  the 


XXII. 


SALVATION:  ITS  MEANING  AND  NATURE.  Ill 


Lord.  So  that  the  higher  his  wisdom  and  the  purer 
his  love,  that  is,  the  more  closely  he  is  conjoined  to 
the  Lord,  so  much  the  more  healthy  and  blissful  is 
his  soul,  and  in  so  much  higher  degree,  therefore,  is 
he  saved. 

And  this  blessed,  orderly  or  saved  state,  is  not 
one  to  be  instantaneously  or  suddenly  attained,  but 
only  through  a  long  and  brave  conflict  with  the 
selfish  propensities  of  the  natural  man  —  the  foes  of 
each  one's  own  household.  The  means  by  which 
this  state  is  reached,  or  salvation  achieved,  are  the 
natural  and  spiritual  truths  we  learn,  our  trials  and 
disappointments,  our  joys  and  sorrows,  our  successes 
and  defeats,  our  relations  and  intercourse  with  others, 
and  all  the  varied  discipline  of  life.  By  these  means 
the  All-loving  and  merciful  One  is  perpetually  work- 
ing through  all  our  lives,  to  recreate  us  in  his  own 
Divine  likeness,  and  so  to  save  us  with  an  everlasting 
salvation  —  to  fill  us  with  his  own  Spirit  and  Life. 
In  his  chapter  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  Swedenborg 
says : — 

"  The  Lord  is  in  the  continual  effort  to  produce 
these  saving  graces  [repentance,  reformation,  regen- 
eration, &c]  in  man,  because  these  are  the  steps  to 
heaven ;  for  He  desires  the  salvation  of  all.  .  .  And 
since  to  Him  man's  salvation  was  and  forever  is  the 
end,  it  follows  that  the  above-mentioned  operations 
[of  the  Holy  Spirit]  are  mediate  ends,  and  salvation 
the  ultimate  end."    (T.  C.  R.,  n.  142.) 


112  S WEDENB OR G  AND  CHAINING. 


Again  in  the  Divine  Providence  :  — 

"  Instantaneous  reformation  and  consequent  sal- 
vation would  be  comparatively  like  the  instantane- 
ous conversion  of  an  owl  into  a  dove  and  of  a 
serpent  into  a  sheep.  Who  that  knows  anything 
of  man's  life,  does  not  see  that  this  is  impossible 
unless  the  nature  of  the  owl  and  serpent  is  removed, 
and  that  of  the  dove  and  sheep  implanted  in  their 
stead.  It  is  also  known  that  every  intelligent  man 
may  become  more  intelligent  and  every  wise  man 
wiser;  and  that  intelligence  and  wisdom  may  in- 
crease in  man,  and  with  some  do  increase  from 
infancy  until  the  end  of  life,  and  that  man  is  thus 
being  perfected  continually.  Why  not  spiritual  in- 
telligence and  wisdom  still  more?  These  ascend 
above  natural  intelligence  and  wisdom  by  two  de- 
grees, and  then  they  become  angelic  intelligence 
and  wisdom  which  are  ineffable,  and  increase  for- 
ever with  the  angels.  Who  cannot  comprehend, 
if  he  will,  that  it  is  impossible  for  that  which  is 
being  forever  perfected,  to  become  perfect  in  an 
instant?  Hence  it  is  evident  that  all  who  think 
of  salvation  from  life,  think  of  no  instantaneous 
salvation  by  immediate  mercy,  but  of  the  means 
of  salvation  in  which  and  through  which  the  Lord 
operates  according  to  the  laws  of  his  Divine  Provi- 
dence ;  that  is,  through  which  man  is  led  by  the 
Lord  out  of  pure  mercy.  .  . 

"  Instantaneous  salvation  out  of  immediate  mercy 


SALVATION:  ITS  MEANING  AND  NATURE.  II3 


is  the  fiery  flying  serpent  in  the  church.  By  the 
fiery  flying  serpent  is  meant  evil  gleaming  with  in- 
fernal fire,  the  same  as  by  the  fiery  flying  serpent 
in  Isaiah  xiv.  29.  Such  evil  flies  abroad  in  the 
church  when  instantaneous  salvation  from  imme- 
diate mercy  is  believed  in.  .  .  If  you  take  away  re- 
pentance, that  is,  separate  life  from  religion,  what 
then  is  man  but  evil  gleaming  with  infernal  fire, 
or  a  fiery  flying  serpent  in  the  church?  —  for  with- 
out repentance  man  is  in  evil,  and  evil  is  hell." 
(D.  P.,  n.  338,  340.) 

And  we  find  essentially  the  same  doctrine  of 
salvation  taught  throughout  the  writings  of  Chan- 
ning.  With  him,  as  with  Swedenborg,  salvation 
meant  the  true  and  healthy  condition  of  the  soul 
—  a  state  in  which  the  lower  propensities  of  our 
nature  are  duly  subjected  to  the  higher,  or  to  the 
laws  of  heavenly  love  —  a  state  of  internal  union  or 
at-one-ment  with  the  Lord.  With  him  as  with  Swe- 
denborg, the  healthy,  virtuous,  regenerate  soul  is 
the  saved  soul.  And  his  belief,  too,  in  the  method 
or  way  of  salvation,  was  substantially  in  agreement 
with  Swedenborg's.  He  did  not  believe  in  any  in- 
stantaneous salvation,  any  more  than  in  instantane- 
ous growth  from  infancy  to  manhood,  or  in  the 
instantaneous  restoration  to  perfect  bodily  health 
of  one  who  has  inherited  or  been  long  afflicted 
with  some  physical  malady.  He  believed  that  the 
10*  H 


I  14  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


soul  is  saved  precisely  in  the  degree  that  the  chains 
of  evil  habits  and  the  power  of  evil  dispositions  are 
broken  through  self-denial  and  obedience,  and  the 
laws  of  God's  unselfish  love  are  voluntarily  en- 
throned within.  To  cite  a  single  passage  from 
"  The  Perfect  Life." 

"  Salvation  is  a  sublime  doctrine.  But  what  does 
it  mean  ?  According  to  the  Scriptures,  salvation  is 
to  be  rescued  from  moral  evil,  from  error  and  sin, 
from  the  diseases  of  the  mind,  and  to  be  restored  to 
inward  truth,  piety  and  virtue.  Consequently  sal- 
vation and  Christian  obedience  are  one  and  the 
same  thing.  Nor  indeed  can  salvation  be  anything 
else.  I  know  but  one  salvation  for  a  sick  man,  and 
that  is  to  give  him  health.  So  I  know  but  one  sal- 
vation for  a  bad  man,  and  that  is  to  make  him  truly, 
thoroughly,  conscientiously  good,  —  to  break  the 
chains  of  his  evil  habits,  —  to  raise  him  to  the  dig- 
nity and  peace  of  a  true  religious  life.  An  intelli- 
gent and  moral  being  is  saved  and  blessed  just  so 
far  as  he  chooses  freely  —  fully  —  what  is  good, 
great  and  God-like ;  as  he  adopts  for  his  Rule  the 
Will  of  God.  I  therefore  repeat  it:  Salvation  and 
Virtue  are  but  different  aspects  of  the  same  Su- 
preme Good."    (Pp.  277,  '8.) 


THE  BLOOD  OF  CHRIST 


XXIII. 

THE  BLOOD  OF  CHRIST. 

SALVATION  by  the  blood  of  Christ "  is  an  ex- 
pression often  on  the  lips  of  Christian  teachers, 
and  of  frequent  occurrence  in  their  writings.  And 
there  is  ample  warrant  for  this  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  apostle  John  says:  "The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin;"  and  that  He 
"  washes  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood."  And 
Paul  speaks  of  being  "justified  by  his  blood,"  and 
says,  "  we  have  redemption,  even  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  through  his  blood."  This  language  has  given 
rise  to  much  controversy  among  Christians.  But 
all  the  strife  has  arisen  from  a  too  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  it,  or  from  not  understanding  the  true  spir- 
itual import  of  this  Divine  symbol. 

What  spiritual  thing,  then,  does  the  blood  of 
Christ  symbolize  or  stand  for?  When  this  is 
known,  it  is  easy  to  understand  the  meaning  of  our 
being  washed,  cleansed,  redeemed  and  saved  by  his 
blood. 

Swedenborg  gives  a  rational  and  satisfactory  an- 
swer to  this  question.  He  says  that  blood,  which 
is  the  means  of  nourishing  and  vitalizing  the  body, 
is  the  symbol  of  that  living  truth  by  means  of  which 
the  soul  is  nourished  and  vitalized.    Christ's  blood, 


Il6  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


therefore,  stands  for  the  spirit  and  principles  of  his 
religion  —  for  those  high  and  holy  truths  contained 
in  his  Word,  and  of  which  He  was  Himself  the  very 
incarnation.  This  is  what  his  blood  corresponds 
to  and  signifies.  To  be  cleansed  and  saved  by  the 
blood  of  Christ,  therefore,  is  to  be  spiritually  washed 
and  saved  —  is  to  have  our  souls  cleansed  of  their 
impure  thoughts  and  evil  desires  by  means  of  that 
divine-human  truth  symbolized  by  his  blood  —  the 
truth  which  He  Himself  taught  and  lived  and  glori- 
fied, and  thus  accommodated  to  the  needs  of  every 
human  being. 

When  we  heartily  receive  into  our  understanding 
any  divine  truth,  and  by  means  of  it  fight  against 
and  overcome  some  evil  within  us  which  that  truth 
reveals,  we  are  so  far  washed  and  redeemed  by  that 
truth  —  washed  and  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
according  to  the  spiritual  and  true  meaning  of  this  ex- 
pression. And  while  we  are  doing  this  —  cleansing 
our  souls  of  their  false  persuasions  and  evil  loves  — 
we  are  at  the  same  time  building  up  a  pure  and  vir- 
tuous character,  or  what  is  the  same,  we  are  receiving 
into  our  hearts  the  good  of  that  celestial  love  which 
is  the  very  soul  and  substance  of  truth.  And  this 
good  of  love  is  what  Christ's  flesh  corresponds  to 
and  signifies. 

From  this  brief  explanation  of  these  divine  sym- 
bols, we  may  understand  what  it  is  to  eat  Christ's 
flesh  and  drink  his  blood.    It  is  to  receive  into  our 


THE  BLOOD  OF  CHRIST. 


117 


understandings  the  heavenly  truths  which  he  taught 
and  lived,  and  to  so  apply  those  truths  to  life  that 
we  shall  receive  into  our  hearts  the  good  of  that 
unselfish  love  which  is  the  substance  and  body  of 
these  truths.  In  brief,  it  is  to  receive  and  have  our 
souls  fed  and  nourished  by  Christ's  own  wise  and 
unselfish  life,  which  is  the  highest  or  heavenly  life  — 
the  only  true  and  eternal  life. 

And  from  this  we  may  understand  what  Jesus 
meant  when  He  called  Himself  "the  living  bread" 
from  heaven,  and  said :  "  He  that  eateth  me,  even 
he  shall  live  by  me ;  "  also  when  He  said  :  "  He  that 
eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth  in 
me  and  I  in  him  ;  "  and  "  except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of 
the  Son  of  Man  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life 
in  you."  For  we  have  no  true  spiritual  life,  and  can 
have  none,  except  as  we  receive  heavenly  truth  (the 
blood  of  the  Lamb)  into  our  understandings,  and, 
through  the  faithful  application  of  that  truth  to  life, 
receive  into  our  hearts  the  good  of  that  unselfish 
love  which  is  the  life  and  soul  of  truth. 

This  is  a  condensed  statement  of  what  Swedenborg 
teaches  on  this  subject.  But  we  will  quote  a  single 
passage  by  way  of  confirmation. 

"  Since  all  spiritual  and  celestial  things  relate 
solely  to  good  and  truth,  it  follows  that  flesh  means 
the  good  of  charity,  and  blood  the  truth  of  faith; 
and  in  the  supreme  sense  the  Lord  as  to  the  divine 
good  of  love  and  the  divine  truth  of  wisdom.  .  .  It  is 


I  1 8  5 WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


known  that  the  Lord  is  the  Word ;  and  there  are 
two  principles  to  which  all  things  in  the  Word  re- 
late, Divine  Good  and  Divine  Truth.  Therefore  if 
the  Word  is  substituted  for  the  Lord,  it  is  plain  that 
these  twt>  principles  are  meant  by  his  flesh  and 
blood.  That  blood  means  the  Lord's  divine  truth 
or  the  truth  of  the  Word,  is  evident  from  many 
passages.  .  .  Such  being  the  significance  of  blood, 
therefore  the  Lord  gave  his  disciples  the  wine,  saying, 
This  is  my  blood ;  and  wine  signifies  divine  truth, 
therefore  it  also  is  called  '  the  blood  of  grapes,' 
Gen.  xlix.  II.  This  is  still  further  evident  from 
the  Lord's  words :  '  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  drink 
his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you ;  ...  for  my  flesh 
is  meat  indeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed.  He 
that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth 
in  me  and  I  in  him,'  John  vi.  53-58.  That  blood 
here  means  the  divine  truth  of  the  Word,  is  very 
manifest;  for  it  is  said  that  he  who  drinks  it  has  life 
in  him,  and  dwells  in  the  Lord  and  the  Lord  in  him ; 
and  this  is  effected  by  divine  truth  and  a  life  accord- 
ing to  it."    (T.  C.  R.,  n.  706.) 

And  since  love  is  the  vital  element  in  truth, 
therefore  blood  includes  this  element  in  its  higher 
signification  ;  and  when  used  with  reference  to  the 
regenerate  in  whom  this  element  is  developed,  it 
denotes  charity,  or  neighborly  love. 

"As  everything,"  says  Swedenborg,  "has  a  spe- 


THE  BLOOD  OF  CHRIST. 


II9 


cific  meaning  in  relation  to  the  man  of  whom  it  is 
predicated,  so  also  has  blood.  In  reference  to  the  re- 
generate spiritual  man,  it  denotes  charity,  or  neigh- 
borly love;  in  respect  to  the  regenerate  celestial  man, 
love  towards  the  Lord ;  and  in  relation  to  the  Lord, 
all  his  human  essence,  consequently  essential  love,  or 
his  mercy  towards  mankind.  Hence  blood,  in  general, 
as  signifying  love  and  the  things  of  love,  represents 
what  is  celestial,  or  of  the  Lord  alone.  With  respect 
to  man,  blood  denotes  the  celestial  things  which  he 
receives  from  the  Lord,  which  with  the  regenerate 
spiritual  man  are  celestial-spiritual."  (A.  C,  n.  IOOI.) 

How  similar  was  Channing's  view  of  the  divine 
significance  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  of  what  is 
meant  by  our  being  redeemed,  purchased,  cleansed 
and  saved  by  his  blood,  is  plain  from  the  following 
passage :  — 

"  I  prize  the  Cross  and  Blood  of  Christ  as  highly 
as  any  Christian  can.  In  view  of  that  Cross  I  de- 
sire ever  to  live ;  and  of  that  Blood,  in  the  spiritual 
sense,  I  desire  ever  to  drink.  I  hope,  as  truly  as 
any  Christian  ever  did  or  could,  to  be  saved  by  the 
Cross  of  Christ.  But  what  do  I  mean  by  such  lan- 
guage ?  Do  I  expect  that  the  wood  to  which  Christ 
was  nailed  is  to  save  me  ?  Do  I  expect  that  the 
material  blood  which  trickled  from  his  wounds  is  to 
save  me?  Or  do  I  expect  this  boon  from  his  bodily 
agonies?  No!  By  the  cross  and  blood  of  Christ, 
I  mean  nothing  outward,  nothing  material.    I  mean 


120  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


the  Spirit,  the  Character,  the  Love  of  Jesus.  .  .  I 
mean  his  Religion,  which  was  sealed  by  his  blood, 
and  the  Spirit  of  which  shone  forth  most  gloriously 
from  the  cross.  .  . 

"  I  am  astonished  and  appalled  by  the  gross 
manner  in  which  '  Christ's  Blood '  is  often  spoken 
of,  as  if  his  outward  wounds  and  bodily  suffer- 
ings could  contribute  to  our  salvation ;  as  if  aught 
else  than  his  Spirit,  his  Truth,  could  redeem  us. 
On  other  occasions  we  use  the  very  words  which 
we  thus  apply  to  Christ,  and  use  them  rationally.  .  . 
For  example,  we  often  say  that  our  liberty  was  pur- 
chased and  our  country  was  saved  '  by  trie  blood  of 
Patriots.'  And  what  do  we  mean?  —  that  the  mate- 
rial blood  which  gushed  from  their  bodies,  that  their 
wounds,  that  their  agonies,  saved  their  country? 
No !  .  .  .  By  their  blood  we  mean  their  patriotism, 
—  their  devotion  to  freedom,  —  approved  in  death. 
We  mean  their  generous  heroism,  of  which  death 
was  the  crown.  We  mean  the  Principles  for  which 
they  died,  the  Spirit  which  shone  forth  in  their  self- 
sacrifice,  and  which  this  sacrifice  of  their  lives 
spread  abroad  and  strengthened  in  the  community. 
So  by  Christ's  Blood  I  understand  his  Spirit.  .  .  To 
be  redeemed  by  his  blood,  is  to  be  redeemed  by  his 
Goodness  [which  is  the  life  and  soul  of  his  truth.] 
In  other  words,  it  is  to  be  purified  from  all  sin  and 
restored  to  all  virtue  by  the  principles,  the  reli- 
gion, the  character,  the  all-conquering  love  of  Jesus 
Christ."    {The  Perfect  Life,  pp.  279,  '80.) 


THE  CROSS:  AND  WHAT  IT  SYMBOLIZES.  121 


XXIV. 

THE  CROSS:  AND  WHAT  IT  SYMBOLIZES. 

SWEDENBORG  says  that  the  Cross  is  the  sym- 
bol of  those  internal  conflicts  —  conflicts  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  heaven  and  hell  in  the  soul,  or 
between  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  man  —  which 
every  one  who  hopes  to  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  by  being  born  again,  or  born  from  Above, 
is  called  to  endure.  This  inward  conflict  between 
good  and  evil,  is  what  he  calls  spiritual  temptation. 
It  is  the  battle  of  the  Lord,  sometimes  fierce  and 
desperate  —  always  more  or  less  painful  to  the  soul 
that  engages  in  it.  But  it  is  indispensable  to  the 
soul's  purification  and  complete  development  —  in- 
dispensable to  the  unfolding  of  the  highest  and  no- 
blest life,  or  to  the  final  victory  of  the  spiritual  over 
the  natural  man.  It  is  the  spiritual  warfare  of 
which  Paul  speaks,  and  which  every  regenerating 
soul  must  endure  —  a  warfare  as  useful  to  the  en- 
lightening and  strengthening  of  the  soul,  as  it  is  nec- 
essary to  its  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Hence  we  may  see  what  is  the  true  spiritual  mean- 
ing of  taking  up  the  cross,  and  why  the  Lord  says : 
"  He  that  taketh  not  his  cross  and  followeth  after 
me  is  not  worthy  of  me;"  and  "if  any  one  will 


122  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up 
his  cross  and  follow  me." 

There  is  much  in  Swedenborg  that  is  exceedingly- 
interesting  and  instructive  on  this  subject;  but  the 
following  brief  extracts  are  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose:  — 

"  When  the  truths  of  faith  which  a  man  believes 
in  his  heart  and  according  to  which  he  desires  to 
live,  are  assaulted  within  him,  it  is  called  a  spirit- 
ual temptation,  especially  when  the  good  of  love 
in  which  he  places  his  spiritual  life,  is  assaulted. 
These  assaults  take  place  in  various  ways.  .  .  They 
are  made  by  the  evil  spirits  who  are  present  with 
man  [and  excite  his  evils ;]  and  when  they  occur, 
they  assume  the  appearance  of  interior  anxieties 
and  pains  of  conscience ;  for  they  affect  and  tor- 
ment the  man's  spiritual  life,  because  he  supposes 
that  they  proceed  from  his  own  interiors  and  not 
from  evil  spirits.  Man  does  not  know  that  evil 
spirits  are  present  with  him  —  these  spirits  being 
in  his  evil  and  good  spirits  in  his  good  affections." 
(N.  J.  D.,  n.  196.) 

"  The  object  contended  for  during  temptations,  is 
the  dominion  of  good  over  evil  or  of  evil  over  good. 
The  evil  which  seeks  to  obtain  dominion  resides  in 
the  natural  or  external  man,  and  the  good,  in  the 
spiritual  or  internal  man.  If  evil  prevails,  the  nat- 
ural man  obtains  dominion;  but  if  good  prevails,  the 
spiritual  man  conquers."    (Ibid.,  n.  190.) 


THE  CROSS:  AND  WHAT  IT  SYMBOLIZES.    1 23 


"  The  ends  to  which  temptations  are  conducive, 
are  these  :  They  gain  for  good  dominion  over  evil, 
and  for  truth,  dominion  over  the  false ;  they  confirm 
truths  in  the  mind,  and  conjoin  them  to  good ;  and 
they  disperse  evils  and  the  falsities  thence  derived. 
They  serve  also  to  open  the  internal  spiritual  man, 
and  to  bring  the  natural  into  subjection  to  it;  to 
destroy  the  loves  of  self  and  the  world,  and  to  sub- 
due the  lusts  which  proceed  from  them.  When 
these  things  are  effected,  man  acquires  enlighten- 
ment and  perception  respecting  the  nature  of  good 
and  its  truth,  and  of  falsity  and  its  evil ;  whence 
he  obtains  intelligence  and  wisdom  which  after- 
wards increase  continually."    (Ibid.,  n.  194.) 

"  They  who  have  not  been  instructed  about  the 
regeneration  of  man,  imagine  that  he  can  be  re- 
generated without  temptation,  and  some  think  that 
he  is  regenerated  when  he  has  undergone  one 
temptation.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  no  one 
is  regenerated  without  temptation,  and  that  several 
temptations  succeed  one  after  another.  The  reason 
is,  that  regeneration  has  this  for  its  end :  that  the 
life  of  the  old  man  may  die,  and  the  new  life 
which  is  celestial  may  revive  or  be  established. 
Hence  it  may  be  seen  that  there  must  at  all 
events  be  conflict;  for  the  life  of  the  old  man 
resists,  nor  is  it  willing  to  be  extinguished;  and 
the  life  of  the  new  man  cannot  enter  unless  where 
the  life  of  the  old  is  extinct.  .  . 


124  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


"  He  who  thinks  from  an  enlightened  rational 
principle,  may  see  from  this  that  man  cannot  be 
regenerated  without  combat,  that  is,  without  spirit- 
ual temptations ;  and  further,  that  he  is  not  regen- 
erated by  one  temptation,  but  by  many;  for  there 
are  many  kinds  of  evil  which  constituted  the  de- 
light of  the  former  life,  that  is,  the  old  life;  and 
all  these  evils  cannot  be  subdued  at  once  and 
together,  for  they  inhere  tenaciously,  since  they 
were  rooted  in  the  parents  for  many  ages  back, 
and  hence  are  become  innate  in  man,  and  con- 
firmed by  actual  evils  of  his  own  from  childhood ; 
all  of  which  evils  are  diametrically  opposite  to 
celestial  good  which  is  to  be  insinuated  and  to 
constitute  the  new  life."    (A.  C,  n.  8403.) 

"  When  man  is  in  temptation  he  is  encompassed 
and  obsessed  by  falsities  and  evils  which  hinder  the 
influx  of  light  from  the  Divine,  that  is,  of  truth  and 
good,  in  which  case  he  is  as  it  were  in  darkness.  .  . 
But  when  he  comes  out  of  temptation,  then  light 
appears  with  its  spiritual  heat,  that  is,  truth  with  its 
good.  Hence  he  has  gladness  after  anxiety :  this  is 
the  morning  which  succeeds  the  night.  The  reason 
why  good  is  then  perceived  and  truth  appears,  is, 
that  after  temptation  truth  and  good  penetrate  to- 
wards the  interiors  and  are  inrooted ;  for  man,  when 
in  temptation,  is,  as  it  were,  in  hunger  for  good  and 
in  thirst  for  truth.  Therefore  when  he  comes  out, 
he  receives  good  as  a  hungry  man  does  meat,  and 


THE  CROSS.  AND  WHAT  IT  SYMBOLIZES.    1 25 


truth  as  a  thirsty  man  does  drink.  And  besides, 
when  light  from  the  Divine  appears,  falsities  and 
evils  are  removed ;  and  when  these  are  removed  a 
way  is  made  for  good  and  truth  to  penetrate  more 
interiorly."    (A.  C,  n.  6829.) 

And  Channing  saw  and  proclaimed  the  same  truth 
very  distinctly  —  using  different  language,  it  is  true, 
and  without  seeming  to  recognize  the  agency  or 
presence  of  evil  spirits  in  temptation.  He  saw  that 
conflict  with  some  opposing  force  within  —  a  fierce 
struggle  with  certain  propensities  which  pollute  and 
degrade  the  soul  when  they  are  allowed  the  mastery 
—  is  not  only  useful,  but  indispensable  to  the  growth 
of  a  strong  and  noble  character,  or  to  the  completest 
development  of  all  the  highest  and  best  faculties  of 
our  nature.  And  this  is  the  same  as  saying  that  we 
cannot  attain  to  the  heavenly  life  without  temptation 
combats.  Speaking  in  one  of  his  discourses  of  the 
inward  warfare  between  our  natural  or  hereditary 
proclivities  and  the  promptings  of  "  reason,  con- 
science and  religion,"  or  the  higher  principles  of 
our  nature,  ne  says  :  — 

"  But  why  is  this  warfare  appointed  ?  Not  to  ex- 
tinguish these  high  principles ;  but  to  awaken  and 
invigorate  them.  It  is  meant  to  give  them  a  field  for 
action,  occasion  for  effort,  and  means  of  victory. 
True,  virtue  is  thus  opposed  and  endangered;  but 
virtue  owes  its  vigor  and  hardihood  to  obstacles, 


126  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNWG. 


and  wins  its  crown  by  conflict.  I  do  not  say  that 
God  can  find  no  school  for  character  but  temptation 
and  trial  and  strong  desire;  but  I  do  say  that  the  pres- 
ent state  is  a  fit  and  noble  school.  You  would  have 
the  path  of  virtue  from  the  very  beginning  smooth 
and  strewed  with  flowers ;  and  would  this  train  the 
soul  to  energy  ?  You  would  have  pleasure  always 
coincide  with  duty;  and  how,  then,  would  you  attest 
your  loyalty  to  duty  ?  You  would  have  conscience 
and  desire  always  speak  the  same  language  and 
prescribe  the  same  path ;  and  how,  then,  would  con- 
science assert  its  supremacy?  God  has  implanted 
blind  desires  which  often  rise  up  against  reason  and 
conscience,  that  He  may  give  to  these  high  faculties 
the  dignity  of  dominion  and  the  joy  of  victory.  He 
has  surrounded  us  with  rivals  to  Himself,  that  we 
may  love  Him  freely,  and  by  our  own  unfettered 
choice  erect  his  throne  in  our  souls.  He  has  given 
us  strong  desires  of  inferior  things,  that  the  desire 
of  excellence  may  grow  stronger  than  all.  Make 
such  a  world  as  you  wish,  let  no  appetite  or  passion 
ever  resist  God's  will,  no  object  of  desire  ever  corne 
in  competition  with  duty ;  and  where  would  be  the 
resolution,  and  energy,  and  constancy,  and  effort, 
and  purity,  the  trampling  under  foot  of  low  interests, 
the  generous  self-surrender,  the  heroic  devotion,  all 
the  sublimities  of  virtue,  which  now  throw  lustre 
over  man's  nature  and  speak  of  his  immortality  ? 
You  would  blot  the  precept  of  self-denial  from  the 


RELIGION  WITHOUT  ASCETICISM.  1 2J 


Scriptures,  and  the  need  of  it  from  human  life,  and 
in  so  doing  you  would  blot  out  almost  every  inter- 
esting passage  in  man's  history."  {Works,  Vol.  IV., 
p.  118.    See  also  Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  33.) 


XXV. 

RELIGION  WITHOUT  ASCETICISM. 

A  CCORDING  to  Swedenborg  the  loves  of  self  and 
the  world  are  the  ruling  loves  of  the  natural  or 
unregenerate  man.  Whereas  in  the  truly  human 
or  regenerate  state,  the  opposite  loves,  that  is,  love 
of  the  Lord  and  love  of  the  neighbor,  bear  rule.  And 
the  whole  work  of  regeneration  consists,  not  in  up- 
rooting or  extinguishing  these  natural  loves,  but  in 
bringing  them  into  a  state  of  due  subjection  and 
subordination  to  the  higher  spiritual  loves.  Chris- 
tianity, therefore,  as  interpreted  by  him,  inculcates 
purity,  holiness,  righteousness,' without  austerity  or 
asceticism.  It  inculcates  a  reverent  regard  for  our 
whole  nature,  the  lower  as  well  as  the  higher.  It 
teaches  that  all  our  appetites  and  natural  desires  — 
our  love  of  knowledge,  love  of  wealth,  love  of  amuse- 
ment, love  of  pleasure,  honor,  power  —  are  good  and 
useful  in  their  proper  place ;  and  are  not,  therefore, 
to  be  extinguished,  but  to  be  brought  into  complete 
subjection  to  the  higher  and  truly  human  loves. 


128  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


They  are  all  good  and  useful  as  servants,  but  tyr- 
annous and  cruel  as  masters.  And  not  only  so, 
but  natural  delights  become  more  and  more  delight- 
ful as  the  higher  motive  or  spiritual  affection  —  love 
of  the  Lord  and  the  neighbor  —  enters  into  and  vi- 
talizes them.  To  cite  one  or  two  passages  on  this 
point  from  the  seer's  own  writings  :  — 

"  It  is  well  to  observe  that  the  man  who  is  regen- 
erated is  not  deprived  of  the  delight  of  pleasures  of 
the  body  or  of  [the  natural]  mind  ;  for  this  delight 
he  enjoys  fully  after  regeneration,  even  more  fully 
than  before,  but  in  an  inverted  ratio.  The  delight 
of  pleasures  before  regeneration  was  the  all  of  his 
life ;  but  after  regeneration  the  good  of  charity  be- 
comes the  all  of  his  life,  and  in  this  case  the  delight 
of  pleasures  serves  as  a  means  and  an  ultimate 
plane,  in  which  spiritual  good  with  its  happiness  and 
blessedness  terminates.  When,  therefore,  the  order 
is  to  be  inverted,  then  the  former  delight  of  pleas- 
ures expires  and  becomes  nothing,  and  a  new  de- 
light from  a  spiritual  origin  is  insinuated  in  its 
place."    (A.  C,  n.  8413.) 

"  Some  suppose  that  whoever  desires  to  be  happy 
in  the  other  world  must  by  no  means  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  the  body  and  of  sense,  but  must  abstain 
from  all  such  delights,  urging  in  favor  of  this,  that 
corporeal  and  worldly  pleasures  abstract  and  detain 
the  mind  from  spiritual  and  celestial  life.  They  who 
think  so,  however,  and  therefore  voluntarily  give 


RELIGION  WITHOUT  ASCETICISM. 


I29 


themselves  up  to  wretchedness  while  living  in  the 
world,  are  not  aware  of  the  real  truth. 

"  It  is  by  no  means  forbidden  any  one  to  enjoy 
corporeal  or  sensual  pleasures,  or  those  arising  from 
the  possession  of  lands,  money,  honors  and  public 
appointments ;  those  of  conjugial  love  and  love  of 
infants  and  children,  of  friendship  and  social  inter- 
course ;  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  singing  and 
music,  or  of  seeing  beautiful  things  of  various  kinds, 
such  as  handsome  apparel,  well-furnished  houses, 
magnificent  gardens,  and  the  like,  all  of  which  are 
delightful  from  harmony ;  the  pleasure  of  smelling 
agreeable  odors,  of  tasting  delicacies  and  useful 
meats  and  drinks;  and  the  pleasure  of  touch ;  for 
all  these  are  the  lowest  or  corporeal  affections 
which  have  their  origin  from  those  which  are  inte- 
rior. Interior  affections  which  are  living,  all  derive 
their  delight  from  the  good  and  the  true ;  and  the 
good  and  true  derive  theirs  from  charity  and  faith, 
and  these  come  from  the  Lord,  consequently  from 
the  very  essential  Life.  Therefore  affections  and 
pleasures  which  have  this  origin  are  alive ;  and  if 
genuine  or  from  this  source,  they  are  never  denied 
to  any  one.  When  pleasures  are  thus  derived,  their 
delight  exceeds  indefinitely  that  from  every  other 
origin."    (A.  C,  n.  995.) 

Precisely  in  accordance  with  the  foregoing,  were 
the  belief  and  inculcations  of  Channing,  as  may  be 
I 


130  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


seen  from  the  following  passage  in  his  discourse  on 
"  Self-Denial." 

"  But,  if  Reason  and  Conscience  are  not  to  be  de- 
nied, what  is?  I  answer,  that  there  are  other  prin- 
ciples in  our  nature.  Man  is  not  wholly  reason  and 
conscience.  He  has  various  appetites,  passions,  de- 
sires, resting  on  present  gratification  and  on  outward 
objects;  some  of  them  which  we  possess  in  common 
with  inferior  animals,  such  as  sensual  appetites  and 
anger;  and  others  belong  more  to  the  mind,  such 
as  love  of  power,  love  of  honor,  love  of  property, 
love  of  society,  love  of  amusement,  or  a  taste  for 
literature  and  elegant  arts.  .  .  These  are  to  be  denied 
or  renounced ;  by  which  I  mean  not  exterminated, 
but  renounced  as  masters,  guides,  lords,  and  brought 
into  strict  and  entire  subordination  to  our  moral  and 
intellectual  powers.  It  is  a  false  idea,  that  religion 
requires  the  extermination  of  any  principle,  desire, 
appetite,  or  passion,  which  our  Creator  has  im- 
planted. Our  nature  is  a  whole,  a  beautiful  whole, 
and  no  part  can  be  spared.  You  might  as  properly 
and  innocently  lop  off  a  limb  from  the  body,  as 
eradicate  any  natural  desire  from  the  mind.  All 
our  appetites  are  in  themselves  innocent  and  useful, 
ministering  to  the  general  weal  of  the  soul.  They 
are  like  the  elements  of  the  natural  world,  parts  of  a 
wise  and  beneficent  system,  but,  like  those  elements, 
are  beneficent  only  when  restrained."  {Works,  Vol. 
IV.,  pp.  113,  '14.) 


SIN:  ITS  NATURE. 


XXVI. 

SIN:  ITS  NATURE. 

SWEDENBORG  makes  a  broad  distinction  be- 
tween sin  and  hereditary  or  transmitted  evil. 
Every  one,  he  says,  inherits  from  foregone  ancestry 
certain  propensities  of  greater  or  less  degrees  of 
strength,  which  incline  him  to  seek  his  own  ease, 
pleasure  or  personal  gratification,  regardless  of  the 
wishes,  rights  or  welfare  of  others.  He  insists  that 
the  merely  natural  man  is  supremely  selfish.  But  we 
are  not  sinners  because  of  this  natural  selfishness  or 
these  inherited  proclivities  to  evil.  Sin,  he  says,  con- 
sists in  the  conscious  violation  of  some  acknowl- 
edged law  or  rule  of  right  —  in  acting  contrary  to 
some  known  moral  precept,  or  some  acknowledged 
moral  obligation. 

A  man  may  inherit  a  strong  propensity  to  lie  or 
steal ;  but  he  is  not  a  sinner  because  of  this  inherit- 
ance, any  more  than  he  is  a  liar  or  a  thief  before  he 
commits  these  offences.  He  sins  only  when  he  ulti- 
m'ates  this  evil  propensity,  and  actually  lies  or  steals, 
knowing  that  to  do  so  is  to  act  contrary  to  a  divine 
command.  The  propensity  may  be  very  strong  in 
him  ;  but  if  he  regards  its  indulgence  as  wicked,  and 
therefore  shuns  it,  he  does  not  sin.  We  sin  only 
when  we  do  evil,  with  the  knowledge  at  the  time 


132  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


that  it  is  evil.  The  selfish  or  evil  desire  may  be  very 
strong  in  us;  but  if  we  regard  and  shun  its  indulgence 
as  a  sin,  we  are  free  from  guilt. 

And  not  only  so,  but  by  continuing  to  do  this,  and 
at  the  same  time  acknowledging  that  it  is  the  Lord 
alone  who  gives  us  the  disposition  and  the  power  to 
resist  the  vicious  propensity,  we  gradually  overcome 
the  evil  inclination  —  lose  all  desire  to  transgress. 
And  in  this  consists  the  great  work  of  regeneration. 
It  is  the  thorough  mastery  over  all  inherited  vicious 
proclivities,  which  the  Lord  gives  to  every  one  who 
acknowledges  Him,  and  humbly  strives  to  obey  his 
precepts.  This  is  the  doctrine  concerning  sin  which 
Swedenborg  teaches  throughout  his  writings. 

And  that  Channing  held  and  taught  the  same  doc- 
trine, contrary  to  nearly  all  the  established  creeds  of 
his  day,  too,  is  plain  from  the  following  passage:  — 

"  By  not  a  few  people,  sin  is  supposed  to  be  a 
property  of  our  nature,  born  with  us ;  and  we  some- 
times hear  of  the  child  as  being  sinful  before  it  can 
have  performed  any  action.  From  these  and  other 
causes,  the  word  gives  to  many  confused  notions. 
Sin,  in  its  true  sense,  is  the  violation  of  duty,  and 
cannot,  consequently,  exist,  before  conscience  has 
begun  to  act,  and  before  power  to  obey  it  is  un- 
folded. To  sin  is  to  resist  our  sense  of  right,  to 
oppose  known  obligation,  to  cherish  feeh'ngs  or 
commit  deeds  which  we  know  to  be  wrong.  .  .  It 


S/JV:  ITS  NATURE. 


I  33 


is  to  transgress  those  laws  of  equity,  justice,  can- 
dor, humanity,  disinterestedness,  which  we  all  feel 
to  belong  and  to  answer  to  our  various  social  rela- 
tions. .  .  It  is  voluntary  wrong-doing.  Any  gratifica- 
tion injurious  to  ourselves,  is  sin.  Any  act  injurious  to 
our  neighbors,  is  sin.  Indifference  to  our  Creator,  is 
sin.  The  transgression  of  any  command  which  this 
excellent  Being  and  rightful  Sovereign  has  given  us, 
whether  by  conscience  or  revelation,  is  sin.  So 
broad  is  this  term.  It  is  as  extensive  as  duty.  It 
is  not  some  mysterious  thing  wrought  into  our  souls 
at  birth.  It  is  not  a  theological  subtlety.  It  is  choos- 
ing and  acting  in  opposition  to  our  sense  of  right,  to 
known  obligation."    (Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  151,  '2.) 

"  Sin  is  the  chief  of  evils.  May  I  not  say,  that 
nothing  else  deserves  the  name?  No  other  evil 
will  follow  us  beyond  the  grave.  Poverty,  disease, 
the  world's  scorn,  the  pain  of  bereaved  affection, 
these  cease  at  the  grave.  .  .  One  and  only  one  evil 
can  be  carried  from  this  world  to  the  next,  and  that 
is,  the  evil  within  us,  moral  evil,  guilt,  crime,  ungov- 
erned  passion,  the  depraved  mind,  the  memory  of 
a  wasted  or  ill-spent  life,  the  character  which  has 
grown  up  under  neglect  of  God's  voice  in  the  soul 
and  in  his  Word.  This,  this  will  go  with  us,  to  stamp 
itself  on  our  future  frames,  to  darken  our  future  be- 
ing, to  separate  us  like  an  impassable  gulf  from  our 
Creator  and  from  pure  and  happy  beings,  to  be  as  a 
consuming  fire  and  an  undying  worm."  (Ibid.,  166.) 
12 


134  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


XXVII. 


ESTIMATE  OF  CALVINISM. 


T  the  time  Swedenborg  wrote,  the  Calvinistic 


*•  system  of  theology  was  the  generally  accepted 
system  in  the  Protestant  churches.  And  it  is  inter- 
esting to  compare  his  view  of  Calvinism  with  that 
of  Channing,  and  to  see  how  exactly  each  of  these 
writer's  estimate  of  the  system  agrees  with  that  of 
the  other.  Swedenborg,  treating  of  the  dogma  of 
predestination  as  taught  by  Calvin  and  his  school, 
and  afterwards  "  firmly  established  by  the  Synod  of 
Dort  and  carried  forth  therefrom  into  the  church  as 
the  palladium  of  religion,"  says:  — 

"  But  what  more  pernicious  thing  could  have 
been  devised,  or  could  any  thing  more  cruel  be 
believed  of  God,  than  that  some  of  the  human  race 
are  damned  by  predestination  ?  For  it  would  be  a 
cruel  creed  that  the  Lord  who  is  love  itself  and 
mercy  itself,  should  will  that  a  multitude  of  men 
be  born  for  hell,  or  that  myriads  of  myriads  should 
be  born  doomed,  that  is,  devils  and  satans ;  and 
that  from  his  Divine  Wisdom  which  is  infinite,  He 
should  not  have  provided  and  does  not  provide  that 
those  who  live  well  and  acknowledge  God,  should 
not  be  cast  into  eternal  fire  and  torment.  He  is 
still  the  Lord,  the  Creator  and  Saviour  of  all,  and 


ESTIMATE  OF  CALVINISM. 


135 


He  alone  leads  all,  and  desires  not  the  death  of 
any.  What,  therefore,  can  be  believed  or  thought 
of  that  is  more  horrible,  than  that  whole  nations  and 
peoples  should,  under  his  auspices  and  oversight, 
be  handed  over  by  predestination  to  the  devil  to 
satiate  his  voracity?  But  this  is  an  offspring  of 
the  faith  of  the  present  church  (1771) ;  the  faith  of 
the  New  Church  abhors  it  as  a  monster."  (T.  C. 
R.,  n.  487.) 

Look,  now,  at  Channing's  estimate  of  the  same 
system.  After  a  fair  but  summary  statement  of  its 
peculiar  and  leading  features,  he  says  :  — 

"  Such  is  Calvinism,  as  gathered  from  the  most 
authentic  records  of  the  doctrine.  Whoever  will 
consult  the  famous  Assembly's  Catechism  and  Con- 
fession, will  see  the  peculiarities  of  the  system  in  all 
their  length  and  breadth  of  deformity.  A  man  of 
plain  sense,  whose  spirit  has  not  been  broken  to  this 
creed  by  education  or  terror,  will  think  that  it  is  not 
necessary  for  us  to  travel  to  heathen  countries  to 
learn  how  mournfully  the  human  mind  may  mis- 
represent the  Deity."    {Works,  Vol.  I.,  p.  223.) 

And  after  devoting  some  fifteen  pages  to  a  moral 
argument  of  great  force  against  Calvinism,  showing 
that  the  testimony  of  our  rational  and  moral  facul- 
ties is  clearly  against  it,  and  that  "  our  religion, 
fairly  construed,  gives  no  countenance  to  that  sys- 
tem which  has  arrogated  to  itself  the  distinction  of 


136  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


Evangelical,"  he  sums  up  his  opinion  of  the  system 
in  these  words  :  — 

"The  general  spirit  of  Christianity  affords  a  very 
strong  presumption  that  its  records  teach  no  such 
doctrines  as  we  have  opposed.  This  spirit  is  love, 
charity,  benevolence.  Christianity,  we  all  agree,  is 
designed  to  manifest  God  as  perfect  Benevolence, 
and  to  bring  men  to  love  and  imitate  Him.  Now 
is  it  probable  that  a  religion  having  this  object, 
gives  views  of  the  Supreme  Being,  from  which  our 
moral  convictions  and  benevolent  sentiments  shrink 
with  horror,  and  which,  if  made  our  pattern,  would 
convert  us  into  monsters !  It  is  plain  that,-  were  a 
human  parent  to  form  himself  on  the  universal 
Father  as  described  by  Calvinism,  ...  we  should 
charge  him  with  a  cruelty  not  surpassed  in  the 
annals  of  the  world."    {Works,  Vol.  I.,  p.  238.) 


XXVIII. 

FAITH. 

PERHAPS  the  most  prominent  doctrine,  and  the 
one  most  insisted  on  by  religious  teachers  in 
Swedenborg's  day,  was  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  faith  alone.  It  was  held  and  taught  that  the 
belief  in  certain  dogmas,  particularly  that  of  a  vica- 
rious atonement,  is  indispensable  to  the  soul's  salva- 


FAITH. 


137 


tion;  that  without  this  belief  no  one  can  be  saved, 
however  pure  and  righteous  his  life;  and  that  with 
it,  he  is  sure  of  the  Divine  forgiveness ;  his  sins  are 
all  remitted  or  washed  away,  no  matter  what  his 
character  or  ruling  love,  this  being  held  of  no  ac- 
count in  the  matter  of  the  soul's  salvation. 

With  this  doctrine  Swedenborg  makes  no  com- 
promise, and  towards  it  shows  no  favor.  From  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  his  system  he  is  directly 
and  persistently  at  war  with  it.  He  insists  that  it 
is  not  believing,  but  living  according  to  the  truth  wc 
understand  and  accept,  that  saves ;  that  it  is  love  or 
charity,  not  faith,  which  is  of  paramount  importance  ; 
that  faith  without  charity  is  like  the  sun's  light 
without  its  quickening  and  invigorating  warmth  ; 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  true  faith  separate 
from  charity ;  and  that  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by 
faith  alone  is  not  only  false,  but  most  pernicious 
in  its  tendency,  as  it  leads  to  the  undervaluing  of 
charity  or  righteousness  of  life.  He  says  that 
"  charity  is  the  life  of  faith,"  and  that  "  the  Lord  is 
not  conjoined  with  man  by  faith,  but  by  the  life  of 
faith  which  is  charity ; "  that  "  charity  makes  both 
heaven  and  the  church,  and  not  faith  separate  from 
charity ;  "  that  "  the  church  would  be  one,  and  not 
divided  into  many,  if  charity  were  its  essential ;  " 
that  "  a  difference  in  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  in  the 
rites  of  external  worship  would  then  be  unimport- 
ant;" that  "faith  separate  from  charity  is  like  the 


138  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHAKNING. 


light  of  winter  in  which  all  terrestrial  growths  are 
torpid  and  nothing  is  produced;"  and  that  "charity 
or  love  of  the  neighbor  is  to  do  what  is  good,  just 
and  upright  in  every  work  and  in  every  office."  It 
were  easy  to  fill  a  volume  with  illustrative  extracts, 
but  the  following  are  sufficient  for  our  purpose:  — 

"There  is  no  other  faith  than  that  which  is 
grounded  in  charity.  He  that  has  no  charity  can- 
not have  the  smallest  portion  of  faith.  Charity  is 
the  very  ground  in  which  faith  is  implanted :  it  is 
the  heart  whence  faith  derives  existence  and  life. 
Therefore  the  ancients  compared  love  and  charity 
to  the  heart,  and  faith  to  the  lungs,  both  of  which 
have  their  seat  in  the  breast.  The  comparison  is 
most  just,  because  for  any  one  to  endeavor  to  form 
to  himself  the  life  of  faith  without  charity,  is  like 
endeavoring  to  continue  bodily  life  by  the  lungs 
alone,  without  the  heart."  (A.  C,  n.  1843.) 
•  "  Let  it  be  well  considered  whether  to  have  faith 
be  anything  else  than  to  live  according  to  it ;  and 
whether  to  live  according  to  it  be  not  only  to  know 
and  think,  but  also  to  will  and  do ;  for  faith  is  not  in 
a  man  while  it  is  only  in  his  knowledge  and  thought, 
but  when  it  is  also  in  his  will  and  deeds.  Faith  in 
man  is  a  faith  of  the  life;  "but  faith  not  yet  in  him, 
is  a  faith  of  the  memory  and  of  the  thought  derived 
therefrom.  To  have  a  faith  which  is  of  the  life,  is 
to  believe  in  God  ;  but  to  believe  those  things  which 
are  from  God  and  not  to  believe  in  God,  is  a  mere 


FAITH. 


139 


historical  faith  which  is  not  saving."  (Ap.  Ex.,  n. 
250.) 

"  The  truths  of  faith  viewed  without  love,  are 
merely  expressions  without  life ;  but  they  receive 
life  by  love,  that  is,  by  conjunction  with  the  good  of 
love.  Hence  it  may  be  seen  that  in  no  case  is  there 
anything  of  faith  except  with  those  who  are  prin- 
cipled in  the  good  of  love,  and  that  the  faith  is  ac- 
cording to  the  love.  .  .  Neither  is  there  any  confidence 
or  trust ;  ...  for  there  is  no  spiritual  confidence  ex- 
cept that  which  flows  in  through  the  good  of  love  or 
charity."    (A.  C.  4352.) 

"They  who  make  worship  consist  in  a  name,  as 
the  Jews  did  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  as  Chris- 
tians do  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  are  not  more 
worthy  than  others  on  that  account;  because  a  name 
avails  nothing.  But  being  such  as  the  Lord  requires, 
this  is  to  believe  on  his  name.  And  when  it  is  said 
that  there  is  salvation  in  no  other  name  but  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  the  meaning  is,  that  there  is  salvation 
in  no  other  doctrine,  and  indeed  in  nothing  else,  but 
mutual  love,  which  is  the  true  doctrine  of  faith ;  that 
is,  in  nothing  else  but  the  Lord,  because  all  love, 
and  the  faith  proceeding  from  love,  is  from  Him 
alone."    (A.  C,  n.  2009,  also  n.  2261.) 

"  In  the  other  life  the  knowledge  of  the  things 
belonging  to  faith  is  of  no  avail  ;  for  the  worst  of 
persons  and  even  the  infernals  themselves  may  pos- 
sess such  knowledge.    But  what  avails  is  a  life 


140  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


according  to  knowledges,  this  being  what  all  knowl- 
edges have  for  their  end.  .  .  And  the  life  of  the 
knowledges  of  faith  is  no  other  than  the  life  of 
charity ;  for  the  law  and  the  prophets,  that  is,  the 
whole  doctrine  of  faith,  with  all  its  knowledges,  con- 
sists in  love  to  the  Lord  and  love  towards  the  neigh- 
bor. .  .  This  life  of  charity  is  what  saves  after  death, 
and  not  any  life  of  faith  without  charity;  for  no  life 
of  faith  can  possibly  exist  without  charity.  They 
who  are  principled  in  the  life  of  love  and  charity, 
are  in  the  Lord's  life;  and  no  one  can  be  conjoined 
to  Him  by  any  other.  .  .  All  the  truths  of  faith  have 
charity  for  their  end  ;  and  if  this  is  not  within  them 
[that  is,  if  the  receiver  does  not  internally  regard  the 
formation  of  a  heavenly  character  as  the  primary 
thing  for  which  the  truths  of  faith  are  given],  they 
are  inwardly  rejected."    (Ibid.,  n.  2049.) 

"  The  doctrinals  of  faith  derived  from  the  Word, 
which  are  the  precepts  of  Christian  life,  are  spiritual 
laws.  These  are  of  no  use  whatever  unless  they  be- 
come the  laws  of  life.  Let  a  man  consider  whether 
he  is  endowed  with  anything  except  what  enters 
into  his  very  life ;  and  whether  a  man's  life  which 
is  really  life,  be  elsewhere  than  in  his  will.  .  .  That 
man  may  be  regenerated  and  become  a  church,  he 
must  be  introduced  by  truth  to  good ;  and  when 
truth  becomes  truth  in  the  will  and  act,  he  is  then  in- 
troduced. This  truth  is  good,  and  is  called  the  good 
of  truth.    Nothing  becomes  internal  until  it  is  im- 


FAITH. 


I4I 


planted  in  the  will,  because  the  will-principle  is  the 
inmost  of  man.  So  long,  therefore,  as  good  and 
truth  are  out  of  the  will  and  only  in  the  understand- 
ing, they  are  out  of  the  man  ;  for  the  understanding 
is  without  and  the  will  is  within."  (Ibid.,  n.  5826, 
4352.) 

And  we  find  the  very  same  doctrine  clearly  taught 
and  strongly  emphasized  by  Channing.  He  insists  not 
less  earnestly  than  Swedenborg,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  genuine  saving  faith  apart  from  charity 
or  righteousness  of  life ;  and  that  the  truths  of  faith 
are  of  no  avail  save  as  a  means  towards  the  formation 
of  a  virtuous  and  Christ-like  character  —  righteous- 
ness being  the  great  end  of  all  belief  or  faith ;  and 
unless  this  end  be  attained,  the  belief,  or  mere  in- 
tellectual apprehension  of  truth,  is  of  no  value;  the 
faith  is  barren  and  dead,  and  therefore  is  not  faith 
any  more  than  a  dead  body  is  a  man.  Take  for 
illustration  and  confirmation  the  following  passage  : — 

"  The  New  Testament,"  it  is  said,  "  lays  the 
greatest  stress  on  Faith.  '  To  be  saved,  we  must 
believe,'  men  say.  '  Virtue,  purity,  sanctity  are  not 
enough.  Faith  in  Christ  is  the  possession  which  is 
most  to  be  prized.'  I  might  reply  to  this,  that  Paul 
taught  a  different  doctrine  in  that  memorable  pas- 
sage where,  in  comparing  Faith,  Hope  and  Charity, 
he  said,  'the  greatest  of  these  is  Charity.'  I  waive, 
however,  that  reply.    I  acknowledge  the  importance 


142  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


of  Faith.  But  still  I  maintain  the  supremacy  of  vir- 
tuous obedience.  For  what  is  Faith,  and  what  is  its 
use  ?  To  believe  in  Christ  is  to  receive  and  cherish 
those  great  truths  from  which  a  pure  life  flows, —  by 
which  the  mind  is  strengthened  to  withstand  evil,  to 
overcome  inward  and  outward  foes,  and  to  press  for- 
ward to  Perfection.  The  value  of  Faith  lies  in  its 
power  over  the  character, —  in  the  force  of  holy  pur- 
pose, in  the  enlargement  of  philanthropy, —  in  the 
union  of  the  mind  to  God, —  to  which  it  is  fitted  to 
exalt  us.  In  other  words,  Faith  is  a  means,  and 
Obedience  is  the  end.  What  is  it  to  believe  in 
Christ?  I  answer:  — It  is  to  recognize  a  divine 
excellence  and  authority  in  his  Precepts,  and  reso- 
lutely to  adopt  them  as  our  Rule  of  Life.  It  is  to 
see  a  divine  purity  in  his  Character,  and  resolutely 
to  make  it  our  model.  .  .  It  is  to  believe  that  the 
pure  in  heart  shall  see  God ;  and  under  this  con- 
viction to  cleanse  the  thoughts,  imagination  and 
desires.  It  is  to  believe  that  the  merciful  shall  find 
mercy,  and  the  forgiving  be  forgiven  ;  and  through 
this  confidence  to  cherish  a  placable  and  affectionate 
virtue.  .  .  In  a  word,  Faith  is  to  believe  that  if  we 
hear  and  do  the  words  which  Jesus  spake,  we  shall 
be  like  the  man  who  built  his  house  upon  the  rock ; 
and  in  this  cotifidcnce  to  obey.  I  know  nothing  plainer 
than  the  true  use  of  Faith.  It  is  enjoined  wholly  for 
its  practical  influences,  simply  to  aid  and  strengthen 
us  to  resist  sin."    {The  Perfect  Life,  pp.  273,  '4.) 


HEA  VEN  AND  HELL  WITHIN  MEN.  I43 


XXIX. 

HEAVEN  AND  HELL  WITHIN  MEN. 

THE  prevailing  idea  among  Christians  a  hundred 
years  ago,  was,  that  heaven  and  hell  are  object- 
ive realities, —  are  places  or  localities  into  which  peo- 
ple may  be  admitted  as  one  may  be  admitted  into  a 
palace  or  a  prison ;  and  that  when  admitted,  they 
would  straightway  experience  the  joys  of  the  one 
or  the  miseries  of  the  other,  as  the  case  might  be. 
And  this  belief  is  according  to  the  appearance  of 
truth  in  the  letter  of  Scripture  ;  for,  from  the  literal 
sense,  both  heaven  and  hell  do  certainly  appear  to 
be  opposite  localities  —  the  one  a  high  and  the  other 
a  low  place. 

But  according  to  Swedenborg  heaven  is  a  state  . 
and  not  a  place  ;  so  likewise  is  hell.  Both,  he  says, 
are  within  the  soul  ;  the  former  consisting  essen- 
tially of  that  pure  and  unselfish  love  which  is  a 
feeble  reflection  of  the  Divine  ;  and  the  latter,  of 
that  supreme  self-love  which  is  the  opposite  of 
the  Divine,  and  closely  allied  to  that  of  the  lower 
orders  of  creation.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  for 
any  to  go  to  heaven,  save  those  in  whom  the 
heavenly  life  or  character  —  that  is,  the  life  of  un- 
selfish love  —  is  formed  or  developed  to  some  ex- 
tent.   And  all  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  domi 


144  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


nated  by  their  lower  nature,  that  is,  by  their  selfish 
and  worldly  loves,  remain  in  a  low  state  —  the  very 
state  denoted  by  hell.  So  that  every  one  carries  with 
him  his  own  heaven  or  his  own  hell,  as  surely  as  he 
carries  his  own  character  which  is  determined  by  his 
dominant  love.  If,  therefore,  he  has  not,  through 
self-denial  and  self-conflict,  overcome  the  inordinate 
loves  of  self  and  the  world  and  developed  the  higher 
and  purer  loves,  he  will  have  no  desire  for  the  com- 
panionship of  angels.  Their  society  would  be  so  un- 
congenial to  him  that  he  would  shun  it  as  some- 
thing oppressive  and  suffocating  beyond  endurance. 
Among  other  illustrative  passages  that  might  be 
cited,  take  the  following  :  — 

"  It  can  in  no  case  be  said  that  heaven  is  without 
one,  but  that  it  is  within  him ;  for  every  angel  re- 
ceives the  heaven  which  is  without  him  according  to 
the  heaven  which  is  within  him.  This  plainly  shows 
how  much  he  is  deceived,  who  believes  that  to  go  to 
heaven  is  merely  to  be  taken  up  among  the  angels, 
without  any  regard  to  the  quality  of  one's  interior 
life  ;  that  heaven  may,  therefore,  be  given  to  every 
one  from  immediate  mercy;  when  yet,  unless  heaven 
be  within  a'  person,  nothing  of  the  heaven  which  is 
without  him  flows-in  and  is  received. 

"  Many  spirits  entertain  this  opinion  [that  heaven 
may  be  granted  from  immediate  mercy].  And  be- 
cause of  their  belief,  they  have  been  taken  up  into 
heaven ;  but  when  they  came  there,  on  account  of 


HEAVEN  AND  HELL  WITHIN  MEN.  145 

their  interior  life  being  contrary  to  that  of  the 
angels,  they  grew  blind  as  to  their  intellectual 
faculties  till  they  became  like  idiots,  and  were  tor- 
tured as  to  their  will  faculties  so  that  they  behaved 
like  madmen.  In  a  word,  they  who  go  to  heaven 
after  living  wicked  lives,  gasp  there  for  breath,  and 
writhe  like  fish  taken  from  the  water  into  the  air, 
and  like  animals  in  the  ether  of  an  air-pump  when 
the  air  has  been  exhausted.  Hence  it  is  evident 
that  heaven  is  not  without  one  but  within  him." 
(H.  H.  54.    See  also  A.  C,  n.  3884,  5057,  10,659.) 

"  As  love  to  the  Lord  and  the  neighbor  make  the 
life  of  heaven  in  man,  so  the  loves  of  self  and  the 
world  when  they  have  the  dominion,  make  the  life 
of  hell  in  him.  .  .  They  in  whom  these  latter  loves 
make  the  life,  will  good  only  to  themselves,  and 
not  to  others  except  for  the  sake  of  themselves. 
And  since  their  life  is  from  hell,  they  despise 
others  in  comparison  with  themselves,  are  angry 
at  them  if  they  do  not  favor  themselves,  hate  them, 
burn  with  revenge  and  desire  to  commit  every  kind 
of  outrage  against  them.  Such  things  at  length  be- 
come the  delights  of  their  life,  that  is,  of  their  loves. 
These  are  they  who  have  hell  in  themselves,  and 
who  go  into  hell  after  death  [that  is,  enter  more 
fully  into  their  own  acquired  life  and  into  associa- 
tion with  spirits  of  a  kindred  character],  since  their 
life  agrees  with  the  life  of  those  in  hell ;  for  such  is 
the  character  of  all  who  are  there,  and  every  one 
13  K 


146  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


comes  to  his  own  [in  the  hereafter]."  (A.  C,  n 
10,741-3.) 

"  They  who  do  not  know  that  the  vital  fire  in 
man  is  not  from  elemental  [or  natural]  fire,  cannot 
help  thinking  that  the  fire  of  hell  means  such  fire 
as  exists  in  this  world ;  when  yet  no  such  fire  is 
meant  in  the  Word,  but  the  fire  which  pertains  to 
love,  that  is,  to  man's  life,  proceeding  from  the  Lord 
as  a  sun.  This  fire,  when  it  enters  those  who  are  in 
principles  of  an  opposite  nature,  is  turned  into  the 
fire  of  lusts  [and  passions],  which  are  those  of  re- 
venge, hatred  and  cruelty,  springing  from  self-love 
and  the  love  of  the  world.  This  is  the  fire  that  tor- 
ments those  who  are  in  the  hells.  .  .  The  fire  which 
proceeds  from  the  Lord  as  a  sun,  is  heavenly  fire ; 
and  this  fire  is  pure  love  [fire  or  heat  being  the  natu- 
ral correspondent  of  love]."    (A.  C,  n.  6832.) 

And  throughout  the  writings  of  Channing  we 
catch  frequent  glimpses  of  this  same  truth.  He  saw 
that  the  human  soul  is  the  sublimest  of  all  God's 
works ;  and  that  the  development  and  strength- 
ening of  its  noblest  powers,  and  their  commanding 
sway  over  the  lower  propensities,  or  the  formation 
of  a  character  allied  to  the  Divine,  is  man's  highest 
good  —  his  promised  heaven;  and  that  the  surrender 
of  one's  self  to  the  dominion  of  selfishness,  worldli- 
ness,  hate  and  lust  —  the  tyranny  of  the  lower  pro- 
pensities over  the  higher,  is  his  greatest  misery  — 


HEAVEN  AND  HELL  WITHIN  MEN        1 47 


his  certain  hell.  Thus  he  held  and  taught,  as  did 
Swedenborg  three-quarters  of  a  century  before,  that 
heaven  and  hell  are  not  places  but  states  ;  that  both 
are  within  and  not  without  the  human  soul.  He 
says : — 

"  Another  great  truth  dawns  on  me  when  I  look 
within.  I  learn  more  and  more  that  the  great 
springs  of  happiness  and  misery  are  in  the  mind, 
and  that  the  efforts  of  men  to  secure  peace  by  other 
processes  than  by  inward  purification,  are  vain  striv- 
ings;  and  Christianity  is  not  only  consistent  with, 
but  founded  on,  this  great  truth  ;  teaching  us  that 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  us,  and  proposing, 
as  its  great  end,  to  rescue  the  mind  from  evil,  and 
to  endue  it  with  strength  and  dignity  worthy  its 
divine  origin.  .  .  The  great  doctrine  of  Christianity 
is  that  of  a  higher  life,  where  the  spiritual  germ 
within  us  will  open  forever,  and  where  the  immortal 
good  after  which  the  mind  aspires  will  prove  a  real- 
ity."   {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  52.) 

"  The  omnipotent  Creator,  we  have  reason  to 
think,  can  bestow  nothing  greater  than  intelligence, 
love,  rectitude,  energy  of  will  and  of  benevolent  ac- 
tion ;  for  these  are  the  splendors  of  his  own  nature. 
We  adore  Him  for  these.  In  imparting  these,  He 
imparts,  as  it  were,  Himself.  We  are  too  apt  to 
look  abroad  for  good.  But  the  only  true  good  is 
within,  .  .  The  only  true  and  durable  riches  belong 
to  the  mind.    A  soul,  narrow  and  debased,  may  ex- 


148  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


tend  its  possessions  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  but  is 
poor  and  wretched  still."  {Works,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  210, 
'11.) 

Again,  in  his  sermon  on  "  Christian  worship," 
where,  in  proclaiming  some  views  of  the  Unitarian 
denomination,  he  clearly  means  to  be  understood  as 
expressing  his  own,  he  says:  — 

"  Most  other  denominations  expect  salvation 
more  or  less  from  what  Jesus  does  abroad,  espe- 
cially from  his  agency  on  the  mind  of  God.  You 
expect  it  from  what  He  does  within  your  own 
minds.  His  great  glory,  according  to  your  views, 
lies  in  his  influence  on  the  human  soul,  in  the  com- 
munication of  his  spirit  to  his  followers.  To  you 
salvation,  heaven  and  hell  have  their  seat  in  the 
soul."    {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  331,  '2.) 


XXX. 

THE  LOVE  OF  USE. 

ACCORDING  to  Swedenborg,  man  was  created  to 
be  a  form  of  use  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and 
the  highest  happiness  is  experienced  only  when  he 
regards  use  as  the  great  end  of  his  existence,  and 
seeks  to  encourage  and  strengthen  in  himself  tlte 
love  of  use.  And  he  does  this  when  his  ruling  pur- 
pose is  to  do  the  special  work  he  is  set  to  do, 


THE  LOVE  OF  USE. 


149 


honestly  and  conscientiously  —  to  perform  that  par- 
ticular use  in  the  best  possible  manner.  In  this 
way  he  cultivates  the  love  of  use,  and  steadily  ad- 
vances towards  the  perfection  of  his  being- — a  state 
in  which  the  highest  happiness  is  experienced  in 
the  performance  of  uses  from  a  genuine  love  of  use. 
For  even  the  celestial  angels  "  have  their  happi- 
ness from  no  other  source ; "  which  is  but  another 
way  of  saying  that  the  happiness  of  heaven  results 
from  the  active  exercise  of  the  soul's  best  powers, 
which  exercise  tends  perpetually  towards  the  per- 
fection of  the  character.  And  the  more  exalted  and 
perfect  the  character  becomes,  the  more  intense  and 
genuine  becomes  the  love  of  use,  and  the  more  ex- 
quisite the  delight  felt  in  its  performance.  Accord- 
ingly Swedenborg  says :  — 

"  Heavenly  joy  is  the  delight  experienced  in 
doing  something  useful  to  ourselves  and  others  ;  and 
the  delight  of  use  derives  its  essence  from  love  and 
its  existence  from  wisdom.  The  delight  of  use 
arising  from  love  through  wisdom,  is  the  life  and 
soul  of.  all  heavenly  joys.  In  heaven  there  are  most 
joyful  consociations  which  exhilarate  the  minds  of 
the  angels,  delight  their  hearts,  fill  their  bosoms  with 
pleasure  and  recreate  their  bodies  ;  but  not  until  they 
have  performed  uses  in  their  offices  or  employments. 
From  these  uses  is  the  soul  or  life  of  all  their  joys 
and  delights."    (C.  L.,  n.  5.) 

"  Charity,  since  it  consists  in  exercise  or  use,  is 
13* 


150  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


nothing  unless  it  manifests  itself  in  the  works  of 
charity.  He  who  loves  his  neighbor  as  himself, 
never  perceives  the  delight  of  charity  except  in 
its  exercise.  Therefore  a  life  of  charity  is  a  life  of 
uses.  Such  is  the  life  of  the  universal  heaven; 
for  the  Lord's  kingdom,  being  a  kingdom  of  mutual 
love,  is  a  kingdom  of  uses.  Hence  every  pleasure 
derived  from  charity  receives  its  delight  from  use ; 
and  the  more  exalted  the  use,  so  much  the  greater  is 
the  delight ;  and  hence  the  angels  receive  happiness 
from  the  Lord  according  to  the  nature  and  quality 
of  the  use  they  perform."    (A.  C,  n.  997.) 

And  substantially  the  same  idea  is  found  in  the 
writings  of  Channing.  He  saw  that  usefulness  as  an 
end — the  doing  of  one's  work,  whatever  that  work 
may  be,  in  a  faithful,  honest,  conscientious  manner  — 
is  the  true  way  to  develop  that  completeness  and 
perfection  of  character  which  fits  us  for  the  society 
of  the  blessed.    Accordingly  he  says  :  — 

"  This  is  one  of  the  beautiful  ordinations  of  Prov- 
idence, that,  to  get  a  living,  a  man  must  be  useful. 
Now  this  usefulness  ought  to  be  an  end  in  his  labor 
as  truly  as  to  earn  his  living.  He  ought  to  think  of 
the  benefit  of  those  he  works  for,  as  well  as  of  his 
own  ;  and  in  so  doing,  in  desiring  amidst  his  sweat 
and  toil  to  serve  others  as  well  as  himself,  he  is 
exercising  and  growing  in  benevolence  as  truly  as  if 
he  were  distributing  bounty  with  a  large  hand  to  the 


PR  A  YER. 


151 


poor.  Such  a  motive  hallows  and  dignifies  the  com- 
monest pursuit.  It  is  strange  that  laboring  men  do 
not  think  more  of  the  vast  usefulness  of  their  toils, 
and  take  a  benevolent  pleasure  in  them  on  this  ac- 
count. .  . 

"  Be  a  man's  vocation  what  it  may,  his  rule  should 
be  to  do  its  duties  perfectly,  to  do  the  best  he  can, 
and  thus  to  make  perpetual  progress  in  his  art.  In 
other  words,  Perfection  should  be  proposed ;  and 
this  I  urge  not  only  for  its  usefulness  to  society,  nor 
for  the  sincere  pleasure  which  a  man  takes  in  seeing 
a  work  well  done.  This  is  an  important  means  of 
self-culture.  In  this  way  the  idea  of  Perfection  takes 
root  in  the  mind,  and  spreads  far  beyond  the  man's 
trade.  He  gets  a  tendency  towards  completeness  in 
whatever  he  undertakes."  {Works,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  384/5.) 


CCORDING  to  Swedenborg,  the  essential  thing 


*•  in  prayer  is  the  heart's  sincere  desire ;  and  what 
a  man  desires  above  all  else,  is  what  he  really  prays 
for.  He  may  from  habit,  or  from  the  established 
ritual  in  the  denomination  to  which  he  belongs,  re- 
peat words  which  do  not  express  his  heart's  desire. 
In  such  case  the  words  of  prayer  are  but  empty  and 


XXXI. 


PR  A  YER. 


152  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


unmeaning  sounds,  and  their  utterance  cannot  profit 
the  petitioner,  —  can  open  no  fountains  of  heavenly 
life  in  his  soul,  no  blessed  communication  with  the 
Lord  or  the  angels.  It  may,  indeed,  lull  him  who 
repeats  them  into  a  false  security,  blind  him  to 
his  real  spiritual  condition,  and  so  be  considerably 
worse  than  useless.  Genuine  prayer  is  the  heart's 
deep  desire  to  know  and  do  the  will  of  the  Lord, — 
io  have  one's  own  will  brought  into  complete  sub- 
jection and  cordial  agreement  with  the  Divine  will. 
\nd  such  desire,  when  sincere,  will  be  in  the  constant 
effort  to  express  itself  in  outward  action,  —  in  works 
of  faithfulness,  honesty,  usefulness  and  love.  The 
life  of  such  an  one,  therefore,  will  be  a  sober,  active, 
righteous  life  —  a  life  of  genuine  charity.  And  where 
such  a  life,  or  at  least  the  longing  and  striving  for  it, 
does  not  exist,  there  can  be  no  true  prayer,  whatever 
words  the  lips  may  utter.  There  is  no  such  thing, 
therefore,  as  genuine  prayer  apart  from  a  life  of 
charity ;  for  its  very  soul  and  essence  are  wanting. 
Accordingly  Swedenborg  says:  — 

"  Essential  divine  worship  consists  primarily  in 
the  life  and  not  in  prayers.  .  .  Inasmuch  as  the  quality 
of  prayers  is  according  to  the  state  of  a  man's  heart, 
therefore  prayers  offered  up  when  the  heart  is  in 
evil,  are  not  true  prayers  of  worship.  .  .  Moreover,  a 
man  who  is  in  the  life  of  charity  prays  continually, 
although  not  with  the  mouth  yet  with  the  heart; 
for  that  which  is  of  his  love  is  continually  in  his 


PR  A  YER. 


153 


thought,  even  when  he  is  unconscious  of  it.  Hence 
it  is  evident  that  prayer  in  the  spiritual  sense  denotes 
worship  from  love.  But  these  ideas  are  not  relished 
by  those  who  place  piety  in  prayers  and  not  in  the 
life."    (Ap.  Ex.,  n.  325.) 

"  Prayers  are  only  the  externals  of  worship,  for  they 
proceed  from  a  man  through  his  mouth.  Therefore 
a  man's  prayers  are  according  to  the  quality  of  his 
life.  It  matters  not  that  he  assumes  a  humble  de- 
portment, kneels  and  sighs  when  he  prays ;  these 
are  external  things.  .  .  In  everything  which  he  utters 
there  is  affection ;  and  every  man,  spirit  and  angel  is 
his  own  affection,  for  his  affection  is  his  life.  It  is 
the  affection  itself  which  speaks,  and  not  the  man 
without  it.  Therefore  his  prayer  is  according  to  the 
quality  of  his  affection.  Spiritual  affection  is  what 
is  called  charity  towards  our  neighbor;  to  be  in  this 
affection,  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  true  worship ;  prayer 
is  what  thence  proceeds."  (Ibid.) 

That  this  was  Channing's  idea  of  prayer,  is  plain 
from  the  following  passage  :  — 

"  It  is  only  by  using  the  power  we  have,  that  we 
can  gain  new  aids  from  Heaven ;  and  these  aids  will 
be  made  effectual  only  by  our  own  faithful  use  of 
them.  The  essence  of  prayer  is  desire  ;  and  to  pray 
for  God's  spirit  is  to  desire  and  choose  virtue,  holi- 
ness, as  our  supreme  good;  so  that  in  the  promise 
of  the  Spirit  to  prayer,  the  great  moral  principle  of 


154 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


the  Divine  administration  is  adhered  to.  '  To  him 
that  hath,  shall  be  given.'  The  common  modes  of 
speaking  of  prayer,  as  if  it  were  mere  asking,  or  did 
not  include  moral  effort,  seem  to  me  very  perni- 
cious."   {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  419.) 


heaven  do  not  all  see  God  alike;  for  his  ap- 
pearance differs  as  their  states  differ.  To  those, 
in  the  highest  or  celestial  heaven,  that  is,  to  those 
whose  love  is  purest,  most  exalted  and  fervent,  He 
appears  as  a  Sun,  immeasurably  more  brilliant  than 
the  sun  of  this  world ;  because  such  appearance  cor- 
responds to,  and  is  one  of  the  normal  results  of,  the 
clear  shining  of  his  truth  and  love  in  their  hearts. 
To  the  spiritual  angels,  or  those  in  a  lower  state,  He 
appears  less  brilliant  —  comparatively  as  a  Moon. 
And  to  infernal  spirits  —  those  who  are  dominated 
by  the  passions  and  propensities  of  their  lower 
nature  —  those  whose  souls  are  darkened  by  fal- 
sity, selfishness  and  sin,  He  appears  as  darkness 
and  thick  darkness  according  to  the  nature  and 
degree  of  the  evil  in  which  they  are  immersed. 
For  the  great  and  eternal  law  of  correspondence 


XXXII. 


SEEING  AND  KNOWING  GOD. 


even  the  angels  in 


SEEING  AND  KNOWING  GOD.  1 5 5 


between  the  inner  and  the  outer,  is  what  deter- 
mines the  character  of  the  whole  phenomenal 
world  in  the  hereafter,  even  the  appearance  of  the 
Lord  Himself. 

And  not  only  so,  but  we  are  told  that  God 
appears  different  to  different  persons  in  this  life  — 
to  each  one  according  to  his  internal  character  or 
spiritual  condition.  They  who  are  nearest  to  Him, 
that  is,  who  receive  his  unselfish  love  into  their 
hearts  in  largest  measure,  and  let  it  shine  out 
most  conspicuously  in  their  lives  —  who  are  most 
like  God  in  the  spirit  and  temper  of  their  minds  — 
see  Him  most  truly.  They  understand  his  nature, 
and  therefore  see  Him,  from  the  spirit  and  principles 
in  themselves  which  are  from  Him.  As  we  deny 
self,  and  encourage  and  strengthen  in  our  hearts 
purity  of  motive,  nobleness  of  purpose,  and  unsel- 
fish desire  for  the  welfare  of  others,  we  receive 
more  of  God's  own  life,  become  more  like  Him, 
and  so  have  a  better  understanding  or  a  clearer 
view  of  Him.  As  it  is  written  :  "  Blessed  are  the 
pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God." 

In  accordance  with  this  idea  and  in  confirmation 
of  our  statement,  we  cite  the  following  from  Swe- 
denborg : — 

"That  the  Lord  appears  to  everyone  according 
to  his  quality  [or  state],  may  be  manifest  from  this 
consideration :  that  He  appears  to  those  in  the  in- 
most or  third  heaven  as  a  Sun  from  which  proceeds 


156  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


ineffable  light,  because  the  inhabitants  of  that  heaven 
are  principled  in  the  good  of  love  to  the  Lord ;  and 
that  He  appears  to  those  in  the  middle  or  second 
heaven  as  a  Moon,  because  the  inhabitants  of  that 
heaven  are  more  remotely  or  obscurely  in  love  to 
Him,  being  principled  in  love  towards  their  neigh- 
bor ;  but  in  the  ultimate  or  first  heaven,  He  does 
not  appear  as  a  sun  nor  yet  as  a  moon,  but  only 
as  light,  which  light  far  exceeds  that  of  the  world. 
And  since  the  Lord  appears  to  every  one  according 
to  his  quality,  therefore  He  cannot  appear  to  those  in 
hell  otherwise  than  as  a  dusky  cloud  and  thick  dark- 
ness. From  these  considerations  it  may  be  clearly 
seen  that  the  Lord  appears  to  every  one  according 
to  his  quality  [or  character],  because  according  to 
reception."    (A.  C,  n.  6832.) 

"  No  one  can  see  God  otherwise  than  from  such 
principles  as  are  in  himself;  as  he  who  is  in  hatred, 
sees  Him  from  hatred,  he  who  is  in  unmercifulness, 
sees  Him  from  unmercifulness ;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  they  who  are  in  charity  and  mercy,  see  Him 
from  and  in  these  principles.  The  case  herein  is  as 
with  the  rays  of  light,  which,  where  they  fall  into 
ugly  forms,  are  turned  into  ugly  colors ;  but  when 
they  fall  into  beautiful  forms,  ar.e  then  turned  into 
beautiful  colors."  (Ibid.,  n.  8819.  See  also  3425, 
6380.) 

And  Channing  had  the  same  idea.    He  saw  that 


SEEING  AND  KNOWING  GOD.  1 57 


selfishness  and  sin  obscure  the  moral  vision,  and 
take  away  or  prevent  a  clear  perception  of  the 
Divine  character;  and  that  only  through  inward 
purification  —  only  through  the  victory  over  inward 
evil  acquired  by  self-denial  and  self-conflict,  can  the 
"  spiritual  eye  be  purged  for  a  brighter  perception 
of  the  Holy  One."  How  clearly  is  this  taught  in 
the  following  passage ! 

"  You  say  that  you  desire  a  new  and  nearer 
knowledge  of  your  Creator.  Let  this  thirst  for  a 
higher  consciousness  of  the  Infinite  Being,  lead  you 
to  oppose  whatever  you  feel  to  be  at  war  with  God's 
Purity,  God's  Truth  and  God's  Righteousness.  Just 
in  proportion  as  you  gain  a  victory  over  the  evil  of 
which  you  have  become  aware  in  yourself,  will  your 
spiritual  eye  be  purged  for  a  brighter  perception  of 
the  Holy  One.  And  this  in  its  turn  will  strengthen 
you  for  a  yet  more  strenuous  resistance  of  sin,  — 
which  will  prepare  you  for  still  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Divine  Nature  and  Character. 
This  attainment  to  a  knowledge  of  God  and  this 
instant  resistance  of  sin,  are  most  intimately  and 
vitally  related.  Neither  can  advance  beyond  the 
other.  For  God,  as  the  All-Good,  can  be  known 
only  through  our  own  growing  goodness.  No  man 
living  in  the  deliberate  violation  of  his  duty,  in  will- 
ful disobedience  to  God's  commands,  as  taught  by 
conscience,  can  possibly  make  progress  in  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Supreme  Being.  Vain  are  all  acts  of 
14 


158  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


worship  in  church  or  in  secret,  vain  are  religious 
reading  and  conversation,  without  this  instant  fidel- 
ity. Unless  you  are  willing  to  withstand  the  desire 
which  the  inward  monitor,  enlightened  as  it  always 
is  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  condemns,  you  must,  you 
will,  remain  a  stranger  to  your  Heavenly  Father. 
Evil  passions  and  sensual  impulses  darken  the  intel- 
lect and  sear  the  heart.  Especially  important  is  it 
—  indispensable,  indeed  —  that  self-indulgence  and 
self-will  shall  be  determinedly  withstood.  While 
these  enthral  us,  never  can  we  comprehend  the  true 
glory  of  God.  For  his  glory  is  Perfect  Love." 
(The  Perfect  Life,  pp.  95,  '6.) 


XXXIII. 

OUR  HEAVENLY  FATHER. 

IT  is  quite  common  to  hear  Christians  speak  of 
God  as  the  Father  of  all  men,  of  the  evil  as  well 
as  the  good.  But  according  to  Swedenborg,  God  is 
truly  the  Father  of  those  only  who  are  his  children ; 
and  only  those  are  his  children  who  are  begotten  or 
born  of  Him,  who  are  spiritually  like  Him,  whose 
ruling  love  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  Divine 
Love.  The  term  is  one  which  expresses  a  spiritual 
relationship,  and  denotes  or  involves  therefore  a 
spiritual  likeness. 


OUR  HEAVENLY  FATHER. 


159 


True,  God  exercises  a  paternal  care  over  the  evil 
as  well  as  over  the  good.  So  He  exercises  a  pa- 
ternal care  over  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowls  of 
the  air  and  the  fish  of  the  sea;  but  we  should  not, 
therefore,  call  Him  the  Father  of  the  wolf,  the  raven, 
or  the  shark,  any  more  than  we  should  call  Him  the 
Father  of  the  flowers  of  the  field,  the  trees  of  the 
forest,  or  the  earth  on  which  we  tread.  And  the 
obvious  reason  is,  that  these  have  no  moral  likeness 
to  God.  They  lack  the  spiritual  qualities  necessary 
to  stamp  them  as  children  of  the  Most  High. 

And  wicked  men  —  they  who  have  never  been 
born  of  God,  and  therefore  have  no  moral  likeness 
to  Him  —  they  whose  ruling  loves  are  supremely  sel- 
fish, and  therefore  the  very  opposite  of  the  Divine 
Love  —  these,  according  to  Swedenborg,  are  not 
properly  the  children  of  God ;  nor  is  God  their 
Father,  seeing  they  have  never  been  begotten  of 
Him,  never  been  spiritually  renewed  after  his  image 
and  likeness.  This  agrees  with  the  Saviour's  teach 
ing,  when,  in  conversing  with  the  Jewish  pharisees 
He  says :  "  But  now  ye  seek  to  kill  me,  a  man  that 
hath  told  you  the  truth,  which  I  have  heard  of  God; 
this  did  not  Abraham.  Ye  do  the  deeds  of  your 
father."  And  when  in  reply  to  this,  they  said, 
"  We  be  not  born  of  fornication ;  we  have  one 
Father,  even  God,"  what  was  the  rejoinder?  "Jesus 
said  unto  them,  If  God  were  your  Father,  ye  would 
love  me ;  for  I  proceed  forth  and  came  from  God.  .  . 


l6o  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNTNG 


Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of 
your  father  ye  will  do.  He  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth,  because 
there  is  no  truth  in  him ; " —  clearly  teaching  us 
that  the  class  of  persons  addressed  on  that  occa- 
sion, and  all  of  like  character,  are  not  the  children 
of  God ;  and  that  not  God,  but  quite  a  different  per- 
sonage, is  their  father. 

And  precisely  this  idea  was  held  by  Channing,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  following  passage  :  — 

"  To  us  there  is  'one  God  even  the  Father.'  Chris- 
tianity has  no  Truth  to  teach  more  encouraging  and 
inspiring  than  this.  But  what  do  we  mean  when 
we  call  God  our  Father?  Does  this  term  imply 
nothing  more  than  that  He  created  us?  He  created 
the  stone:  Is  He  therefore  its  Father?  Do  we  mean 
that  He  gives  us  bodies  and  the  pleasures  of  sensi- 
tive existence?  These  He  gives  to  the  bird  and 
insect;  but  the  Scriptures  nowhere  call  Him  their 
Parent.  No !  It  is  clear  that  this  word  expresses 
a  spiritual  relation.  It  declares  God's  connexion 
with  the  Human  Soul.  God  is  the  Father  of  those 
beings,  and  of  those  only,  whom  He  has  created  in 
his  own  image,  whom  He  has  gifted  with  a  Spirit 
like  his  own,  whom  He  has  framed  for  the  end  that 
they  may  approach  Him  in  his  highest  attributes. 
To  be  a  Parent  is  to  communicate  a  kindred  nature, 
and  to  watch  over,  educate  and  guide  this  nature  to 
perfect  development."    [The  Perfect  Life,  p.  255.) 


THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT. 


161 


XXXIV. 

THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT. 

SWEDENBORG  rejects  the  old,  and  still  popular, 
doctrine  of  the  Divine  Trinity ;  and  repeatedly 
declares  that  a  belief  in  three  Divine  Persons  is  a 
belief  in  tflree  Gods.  Whatever  the  lips  may  be 
forced  to  utter  or  the  pen  to  inscribe,  he  says  the 
believer  in  the  Tripersonality  of  God  really  thinks  of 
three  Divine  Beings  or  Gods ;  and  that  it  is  a  person's 
thought,  not  the  mere  utterance  of  his  lips,  which 
shows  what  he  really  believes.  And  precisely  this, 
in  substance,  says  Channing  —  as  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  show.    (See  page  47.) 

Yet  Swedenborg  teaches  that  there  is  a  trinal 
distinction  in  the  Divine  Nature  —  not  of  persons, 
however,  but  of  essential  divine  principles  or  attri- 
butes. The  trinity  in  God,  as  he  explains  it,  is  not 
a  mysterious  and  incomprehensible  but  a  perfectly 
intelligible  and  rational  trinity.  It  is  one  which  finds 
its  natural  correspondent  and  complete  illustration 
in  the  sun  —  the  fittest  type  of  God  which  the  realm 
of  inanimate  nature  affords.  Heat  and  light,  to- 
gether with  their  proceeding  or  operative  energy, 
constitute  the  trinity  in  the  sun.  And  the  sun's  heat 
corresponds  to  the  essential  Divinity  which  is  pure 
and  perfect  Love,  and  is  what  is  signified  by  the  Father 
14*  L 


162  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


in  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Its  light  corresponds 
to  truth,  or  the  divine-human  form  of  love  —  the 
form  in  which  love  manifests  itself  to  the  mental  eye, 
as  heat  manifests  itself  to  the  bodily  eye  in  the 
form  of  light ;  and  this  is  what  is  meant  in  the 
Scripture  by  the  Son,  who  is  said  to  bring  the  Father 
forth  to  view,  to  be  the  personal  manifestation  or 
"express  image"  of  Him,  and  who  (speaking  as  the 
living  embodiment  of  eternal  Truth)  says*  "I  am  the 
light  of  the  world."  And  the  proceeding  and  quick- 
ening energy  of  the  sun's  heat  and  light  in  the  realm 
of  nature,  corresponds  to  the  proceeding  and  quicken- 
ing influence  of  the  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom  in  the 
realm  of  spirit;  and  this  Holy  Proceeding  is  what  is 
meant  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Every  human  being,  too,  who  is  born  of  God  — 
created  anew  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  his  Maker 
—  furnishes  an  illustration  of  Swedenborg's  doctrine 
of  the  Divine  Trinity  ;  for  every  such  person  is  an 
image  of  this  Trinity.  His  regenerated  and  unselfish 
will  is  an  image  of  the  Divine  Love  ;  his  enlightened 
understanding  is  an  image  of  the  Divine  Wisdom  : 
and  the  outgoing  or  active  operation  of  his  wise  head 
and  loving  heart  in  deeds  of  mercy,  beneficence  and 
use,  is  an  image  of  the  Holy  Proceeding  of  love 
and  wisdom  from  the  Lord  —  an  image  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

A  further  illustration  of  the  same  doctrine  is  seen 
in  the  human  soul  and  body,  and  the  proceeding  or 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 


163 


joint  operation  of  the  two.  And  if,  as  the  Bible 
teaches,  man  was  originally  created  in  the  likeness 
of  God,  we  should  expect  to  find  in  him  (should  we 
not?)  an  image  of  the  trinity  in  God,  and  an  explan- 
ation and  illustration  of  its  nature. 

But  we  will  let  Swedenborg  speak  for  himself  on 
this  subject.    He  says  :  — 

"  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  same  as  the  Divine 
Sphere,  if  by  this  be  meant  the  Divine  Love  and 
Wisdom,  which  two  proceed  from  Jehovah  the  Lord 
out  of  the  sun  of  the  angelic  heaven,  like  heat  and 
light  from  the  sun  of  the  natural  world,  and  compose 
its  sphere ;  for  the  heat  proceeding  out  of  the  sun 
of  the  angelic  heaven  is  in  its  essence  love,  and  the 
light  thence  proceeding  in  its  essence  is  wisdom ; 
and  the  heat  and  light  proceeding  from  the  sun  of 
the  natural  world,  correspond  to  these  two."  (Szveden- 
borg's  Answer  to  the  fifth  of  Hardy's  nine  questio?is:  — 
appended  to  his  Doctrine  of  the  Lord) 

Again  he  says  :  — 

"That  there  is  a  trinity  {trimim)  in  the  Lord,  viz., 
the  essential  Divine  which  is  called  the  Father,  the 
Divine  Human  which  is  called  the  Son,  and  the 
Divine  Proceeding  which  is  called  the  Holy  Spirit, 
may  be  clearly  seen  from  the  Word,  from  the  Divine 
essence,  and  from  heaven.  From  the  Word,  —  where 
the  Lord  Himself  teaches  that  the  Father  aird  He  are 
one,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from  Him 
and  the  Father.  .  .  From  the  Divine  essence,  —  from 


164  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 

which  it  appears  that  one  Divine  [attribute]  by  itself 
is  not  possible,  but  there  must  be  a  trine.  This 
trine  consists  of  esse  [being],  cxistcre  [existence]  and 
proceeding ;  for  esse  must  needs  exist,  and  when  it 
exists  it  must  proceed  [or  operate],  that  it  may  pro- 
duce ;  and  this  trine  is  one  in  essence  and  in  person, 
and  is  God.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  a  comparison.  N 
An  angel  of  heaven  is  a  trine,  and  thereby  one.  The 
esse  of  an  angel  is  that  which  is  called  his  soul,  and 
his  existcre  is  that  which  is  called  his  body ;  and  the 
proceeding  from  both  is  what  is  called  the  sphere  of 
his  life,  without  which  an  angel  has  neither  existence 
nor  being.  By  this  trine  an  angel  is  an  image  of  God, 
and  is  called  a  son  of  God,  and  also  an  heir,  yea,  a 
god.  Yet  an  angel  is  not  life  from  himself,  but  is  a 
recipient  of  life  —  God  alone  being  life  from  Him- 
self. From  heaven,  —  because  the  Divine  Trinity, 
which  is  one  in  essence  and  in  person,  is  such  in 
heaven.  For  the  Divine  called  the  Father,  and  the 
Divine  Human  called  the  Son,  appears  there  before 
the  angels  as  a  sun;  and  the  Divine  proceeding  from 
it,  as  light  united  to  heat, — the  light  being  divine 
truth,  and  the  heat  being  divine  good.  Thus  the 
Divine  which  is  called  the  Father,  is  the  divine  esse ; 
the  Divine  Human  which  is  called  the  Son,  is  the 
divine  existere  from  that  esse ;  and  the  Divine  which 
is  called  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  the  Divine  Proceeding 
from  the  divine  existere  and  the  divine  esse.  This 
trine  is  the  Lord  in  heaven :  his  Divine  Love  is 


THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT.  l6$ 

what  appears  there  as  a  sun."  (Ap.  Ex.,  n.  1 1 1 1.  See 
also  E.  U.,  n.  159.) 

.  Now  we  do  not  find  in  Channing's  writings  a  dis- 
tinct or  formal  statement  of  his  belief  in  a  Divine 
Trinity  of  any  kind.  Yet,  without  any  such  formal 
statement,  it  is  clear  that  he  believed  in  a  Trinity 
closely  allied  to,  if  not  identically  the  same  as,  that 
taught  by  Swedenborg.  He  believed  God  to  be 
essential  Divine  Love  and  Divine  Wisdom,  —  a  be- 
lief that  he  has  often  expressed ;  and  he  believed 
that  there  is  a  constant  emanation  of  these  princi- 
ples from  Himself — a  holy,  enlightening  and  quick- 
ening influence  continually  going  forth  from  Him 
and  operating  upon  the  moral  universe,  as  the  rays 
of  light  and  heat  continually  go  forth  from  the  sun 
and  exert  a  quickening  influence  upon  the  material 
universe.  And  that  this  Divine  emanation  or  influ- 
ence is  what  he  understood  to  be  meant  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  is  plain  from  the  following  passage :  — 

"  I  would  on  no  account  disparage  the  gracious 
aids  and  influences  which  God  imparts  to  the  human 
soul.  The  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  among  the 
most  precious  in  the  Sacred  Volume.  Worlds  could 
not  tempt  me  to  part  with  the  doctrine  of  God's 
intimate  connection  with  the  mind,  and  of  his  free 
and  full  communications  to  it.  .  .  Scripture  and  expe- 
rience concur  in  teaching,  that,  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
we  are  to  understand  a  divine  assistance  adapted  to 


166  5 WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


our  moral  freedom,  and  accordant  with  the  funda- 
mental truth,  that  virtue  is  the  mind's  own  work.  By 
the  Holy  Spirit  I  understand  an  aid  which  must  be 
gained  and  made  effectual  by  our  own  activity ;  an 
aid  which  no  more  interferes  with  our  faculties  than 
the  assistance  which  we  receive  from  our  fellow- 
beings  ;  an  aid  which  silently  mingles  and  conspires 
with  all  other  helps  and  means  of  goodness ;  an  aid, 
by  which  we  unfold  our  natural  powers  in  a  natural 
order,  and  by  which  we  are  strengthened  to  under- 
stand and  apply  the  resources  derived  from  our  mu- 
nificent Creator."    {Works,  Vol.  III.,  p.  244.) 

And  in  other  places  where  he  speaks  of  "the 
spiritual  influence  "  and  "  spiritual  aid  "  that  comes 
continually  from  God,  of  the  "  influx  of  light  and 
strength  which  He  imparts  in  answer  to  prayer,"  of 
the  "  fruits  of  goodness  produced  by  God's  constant 
operation  on  the  human  mind,"  of  "  the  silent  influ- 
ences of  his  Providence  and  Spirit  on  the  heart, 
suggesting  good  thoughts,  and  awakening  desires 
of  holiness,"  he  means  the  influence  and  operation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  So  that  his  doctrine  on  this 
subject  would  seem  to  be  identical  with  that  of 
the  Swedish  seer. 


REPENTANCE  AND  REGENERATION.       1 67 


XXXV. 


REPENTANCE  AND  REGENERATION. 
T  the  time  Swedenborg  wrote,  it  was  the  pre- 


*■  vailing  belief  among  Christians,  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  Adam's  transgression,  all  mankind  be- 
came exposed  to  "the  just  wrath  of  God,"  and  liable 
therefore  to  eternal  damnation ;  and  that  this  liabil- 
ity may  be  removed  through  faith  in  the  atoning 
blood  of  Christ;  in  consequence  of  which  faith,  it 
was  held,  "that  God  the  Father  imparts  to  the 
believer  the  righteousness  of  his  Son,  and  then 
declares  him,  while  yet  unconscious  of  any  sin, 
righteous,  renewed  and  holy,  and  thus  clothes  him 
in  a  robe  washed  and  made  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb."  And  it  was  believed  that  this  act  of 
saving  faith,  preceded  by  contrition  and  followed 
by  repentance  and  regeneration,  was  an  instanta- 
neous work;  so  that  the  vilest  sinner  might,  through 
faith  in  the  great  atoning  sacrifice,  be  changed  in  a 
moment  into  a  spotless  saint,  and  fitted  for  the 
realms  of  bliss,  —  thus  making  both  repentance  and 
regeneration,  or  man's  spiritual  renovation,  instanta- 
neous acts. 

All  this  is  rejected  by  Swedenborg,  and  declared 
to  be  alike  untrue,  unscriptural  and  pernicious.  He 
says  (and  this  teaching  is  many  times  repeated  in 


1 68  5 WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


his  writings)  that  regeneration,  or  man's  inward  re- 
newal in  the  spirit  and  temper  of  his  mind,  is  not  an 
instantaneous,  but  a  gradual  and  progressive  work 
—  as  gradual  as  the  growth  from  infancy  to  man- 
hood, or  as  the  progress  from  ignorance  to  intelli- 
gence. He  says  that  our  selfish  and  evil  procliv- 
ities cannot  be  suddenly  overcome,  nor  an  angelic 
or  Christ-like  character  suddenly  formed ;  that  we 
advance  gradually  in  the  work  of  subduing  our  evil 
inclinations,  regarding  their  indulgence  as  a  sin 
against  God,  and  shunning  them  one  by  one  as 
they  arise  or  come  under  our  observation;  and 
so  casting  them  out  "  by  little  and  little,"  as  the 
Israelites  drove  out  the  inhabitants  from  the  land 
of  Canaan. 

So  that  regeneration,  or  the  formation  of  the  new 
man  —  the  development  of  the  new  and  heavenly 
life  in  the  soul  —  is  as  gradual  and  as  strictly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  divine  order,  as  the  forma- 
tion of  man's  natural  body,  or  as  the  development 
of  a  stalk  of  grain  from  its  implanted  seed.  "  First 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear."    Accordingly  Swedenborg  says  :  — 

"  Man  [in  his  unregenerate  state]  loves  himself 
more  than  the  Lord,  and  the  world  more  than 
heaven;  yet  the  life  of  heaven  consists  in  loving 
the  Lord  above  all  things  and  his  neighbor  as 
himself.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  his  former  [or 
natural]  life  must  be  altogether  destroyed,  that  is, 


REPENTANCE  AND  REGENERATION.       1 69 

evils  and  falsities  must  be  removed,  in  order  that 
the  new  life  which  is  the  life  of  heaven,  may  be 
implanted.  This  cannot  by  any  means  be  done 
quickly;  for  every  evil  being  inrooted  with  its 
falsity,  is  connected  with  all  evils  and  their  fal- 
,  sities ;  and  such  evils  and  falsities  are  innumer- 
able, and  their  connexion  is  so  manifold  that  it 
cannot  be  comprehended  even  by  the  angels,  but 
only  by  the  Lord.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  the 
life  of  hell  in  man  cannot  be  suddenly  destroyed, 
for  if  it  were  he  would  altogether  expire ;  nor  can 
the  life  of  heaven  be  suddenly  implanted,  for  if  it 
were  he  would  also  expire.  There  are  thousands 
and  thousands  of  arcana,  scarcely  a  single  one  of 
which  is  known  to  man,  whereby  a  man  is  led  of 
the  Lord  from  the  life  of  hell  to  the  life  of  heaven. 
.  .  .  Since  man  knows  scarcely  anything  of  these 
arcana,  therefore  many  have  fallen  into  errors  about 
his  liberation  from  evils  and  falsities,  or  about  the 
remission  of  sins,  believing  that  the  life  of  hell  in 
him  can  be  changed  into  the  life  of  heaven  in  a 
moment  through  mercy."    (A.  C,  n.  9336.    See  also 

n-  4353.  9334,  '37-) 

And  of  repentance  he  says,  "  it  is  not  the  mere 
lip-confession  of  being  a  sinner,"  which  may  be 
made  "by  a  wicked  person,  and  even  by  a  devil;" 
but  to  be  genuine  and  of  any  value,  "  it  should  be 
actual  and  not  merely  verbal ; "  that  is,  there  must 


170 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


be  an  actual  turning  away  from  evils,  and  a  shunning 
of  them  as  sins.  To  the  question,  "  How  ought  a 
man  to  repent,"  he  says  :  — 

"  The  reply  is,  Actually :  That  is  to  say,  he  must 
examine  himself,  recognize  and  acknowledge  his 
sins,  supplicate  the  Lord,  and  begin  a  new  life.  .  .  • 
But  why  should  a  man  examine  himself,  except 
that  he  may  recognize  his  sins?  And  why  should 
he  recognize  his  sins,  except  that  he  may  acknowl- 
edge that  they  are  in  him  ?  And  wherefore  these 
three  things,  except  that  he  may  confess  his  sins 
before  the  Lord,  supplicate  aid,  and  then  begin  a 
new  life  —  which  is  the  end  sought?  This  is  actual 
repentance."    (T.  C.  R.,  n.  530.) 

And  not  only  must  we  refrain  from  the  outward 
commission  of  evil,  but  from  the  very  thought  of  it 
—  from  every  evil  intention. 

"  For  a  man  to  examine  not  only  the  actions  of 
his  life  but  likewise  the  intentions  of  his  will,  is  true 
repentance,  because  the  understanding  and  will  per- 
form the  actions.  .  .  He  may  repent  of  evils  which 
he  has  done  in  the  body,  and  still  do  evil  in  thought 
and  will, —  which  is  like  cutting  off  the  trunk  of  an 
evil  tree  and  leaving  the  root  in  the  ground,  from 
which  the  same  evil  tree  grows  up  again  and  spreads 
forth  its  branches.  But  when  the  root  also  is  torn 
up,  it  is  different ;  and  this  is  done  in  man  when  he 
examines  also  the  intentions  of  his  will,  and  removes 
evil  by  repentance."    (T.  C.  R.,  n.  532.) 


REPENTANCE  AND  REGENERATION.  171 

And  Channing  teaches  precisely  the  same  doc- 
trine on  both  these  subjects,  as  the  following  brief 
extracts  clearly  show  :  — 

"  We  repent  then  and  then  only,  when,  seeing  a 
propensity  to  be  evil,  we  resist  it  as  such,  and  bring 
it  into  subjection  to  the  principle  of  duty.  .  .  Repent- 
ance is  a  strong  purpose  to  remove  everything  evil 
from  our  character.  It  excepts  no  form,  mode,  de- 
gree, of  evil.  It  makes  no  compromise  with  sin, 
but  wages  against  it  an  unsparing  and  exterminating 
war.  .  .  To  repent  is  to  try  to  perform  our  whole 
duty,  to  mark  every  known  departure  from  it,  and 
to  aim  at  universal  rectitude  of  heart  and  life. 

"  Some,  when  they  speak  of  repentance,  mean 
little  more  than  that  they  have  grieved  for  trans- 
gression. Now  sorrow  is,  I  admit,  an  entrance-way 
to  repentance,  a  preparation  for  it,  a  means  to  it ; 
but  it  is  not  the  grace  itself.  The  truth  is,  we  must 
toil  and  struggle,  as  well  as  lament ;  and  grief  does 
no  good  any  farther  than  it  leads  to  a  habit  of 
watchfulness,  and  of  opposition  to  the  first  motion 
of  guilty  desire. 

"Some,  indeed,  tell  us  that  repentance  is  a  work 
done  immediately  for  us  by  God,  that  we  are  trans- 
formed, regenerated,  renewed  by  a  sudden  and  re- 
sistless agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  But  why,  then, 
are  we  called  to  repent  and  renew  ourselves  ?  Why 
is  penitence  assigned  as  a  duty,  and  the  neglect  of 
it  punished  as  a  crime  ?    True,  it  is  God  who  gives 


172  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


repentance.  All  good  comes  from  Him,  whether 
spiritual  or  natural;  but  it  comes  through  the  powers 
which  He  bestows,  and  through  his  blessing  on  the 
faithful  use  of  them.  The  character  is  never  changed 
in  a  moment,  or  without  our  own  activity."  {Memoirs, 


O  single  subject,  perhaps,  has  been  more  mis- 


^  '  understood,  even  by  professing  Christians,  than 
the  subject  of  Religion.  Some  have  supposed  it  to 
consist  in  oral  prayers  and  penitential  sighs  and 
psalms ;  others,  in  certain  rites  and  ceremonies, 
solemnly  and  reverently  performed  at  stated  times ; 
others,  in  fastings,  flagellations,  and  other  bodily 
sufferings,  either  self-inflicted  or  imposed  by  eccle- 
siastical authority;  others,  in  indiscriminate  alms- 
giving-and  liberal  endowments  of  religious  institu- 
tions ;  others,  in  a  certain  system  of  religious  belief, 
and  a  certain  form  of  religious  worship;  others,  in 
retiring  from  the  world,  renouncing  all  its  pleasures, 
cares  and  pursuits,  and  giving  one's  self  up  to  a  cease- 
less round  of  solemn  services.  But  the  most  sen- 
sible and  satisfactory  definition  of  it  that  we  have 
ever  met  with,  and  one  which  the  most  enlightened 


Vol.  Hi,  pp.  7,  8,  9.) 


XXXVI. 


TRUE  RELIGION. 


TRUE  RELIGION. 


173 


Christians  of  our  times  are  gradually  coming  to 
accept,  is  that  given  by  Swedenborg  in  these  few 
words :  — 

"  All  religion  has  relation  to  life ;  and  the  life  of 
religion  is  to  do  good."    (D.  L.,  n.  I.) 

And  throughout  his  writings  the  Swedish  sage 
teaches  that  the  true  religion  —  while  not  rejecting 
forms  and  ordinances  and  external  worship,  but 
using  them  as  a  means  of  its  own  development  — 
consists  essentially  in  righteousness  of  life,  in  doing 
justly,  loving  mercy  and  walking  humbly  with  God. 
He  insists  that  the  truly  religious  life  is  the  life  of 
God  in  the  soul  of  man,  manifesting  itself  in  all  the 
deeds  and  relations  of  life ;  and  that  this  life  is  best 
developed,  not  in  cloisters  or  away  from  the  busi- 
ness and  turmoil  of  the  world,  but  in  the  midst  of  its 
cares,  duties,  temptations  and  trials;  that  we  become 
more  and  more  religious,  in  the  true  sense  of  this 
word,  in  the  degree  that  we  look  to  the  Lord  for 
light  and  guidance,  and  try  to  perform  all  our  duties 
honestly  and  well  as  He  would  have  us;  —  try  to 
carry  his  wise,  righteous  and  loving  spirit  into  all 
the  common  labors  and  trials  and  transactions  of 
life.  Performing  our  common  every-day  duties  in  a 
faithful,  honest,  conscientious  manner,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  neighborly  love,  is  living  a  religious  life. 
From  this  it  may  be  seen  what  the  true  religion  is, 
according  to  this  writer. 

Swedenborg  tells  us  some  things  that  he  learned 
15* 


174  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


from  the  angels  on  this  subject.  Take,  for  example, 
the  following :  — 

"  I  have  been  permitted  to  converse  with  some  in 
the  other  life,  who  had  withdrawn  themselves  from 
the  business  of  the  world,  that  they  might  live  a 
pious  and  holy  life ;  and  with  others  also  who  had 
afflicted  themselves  in  various  ways,  because  they 
imagined  that  this  was  to  renounce  the  world  and 
to  subdue  the  concupiscences  of  the  flesh.  But  the 
greater  portion  of  these,  —  having  by  such  austeri- 
ties contracted  a  sorrowful  life,  and  removed  them- 
selves from  the  life  of  charity,  which  can  only  be 
lived  in  the  world,  —  cannot  be  associated  with 
angels,  because  the  life  of  the  angels  is  one  of  glad- 
ness resulting  from  bliss,  and  consists  in  performing 
acts  of  goodness,  which  are  works  of  charity. 

"  Besides,  they  who  have  led  a  life  withdrawn 
from  worldly  affairs,  are  possessed  with  the  idea  of 
their  own  merit,  and  are  thence  continually  desirous 
of  being  admitted  into  heaven,  and  think  of  heav- 
enly joy  as  a  reward,  being  totally  ignorant  of 
what  heavenly  joy  is.  And  when  they  are  admitted 
among  the  angels,  and  to  a  perception  of  their  joy 
which  is  without  the  thought  of  merit,  and  consists 
in  active  duties  and  services  openly  performed,  and 
in  the  blessedness  arising  from  the  good  which  they 
thereby  promote,  they  are  astonished  like  persons 
who  witness  things  altogether  foreign  to  their  ex- 
pectation.   And  because  they  are  not  receptible  of 


TRUE  RELIGION. 


175 


that  joy,  they  depart  and  associate  with  spirits  like 
themselves,  who  have  lived  a  similar  life  in  the 
world.  .  . 

"  These  statements  are  made  in  order  that  it  may 
be  known,  that  the  life  which  leads  to  heaven  is  not 
a  life  of  retirement  from  the  world,  but  of  action  in 
the  world ;  and  that  a  life  of  piety,  without  a  life 
of  charity,  —  which  can  only  be  acquired  in  the 
world,  —  does  not  lead  to  heaven,  but  a  life  of  char- 
ity does ;  and  this  consists  in  acting  sincerely  and 
justly  in  every  occupation,  in  every  transaction,  and 
in  every  work,  from  an  interior  and  thus  from  a 
heavenly  origin;  and  such  origin  is  inherent  in 
such  a  life,  when  a  man  acts  sincerely  and  justly  be- 
cause it  is  according  to  the  divine  laws. 

"Such  a  life  is  not  difficult;  but  a  life  of  piety 
separate  from  a  life  of  charity,  is  difficult ;  yet  this 
life  leads  away  from  heaven,  as  much  as  it  is  be- 
lieved to  lead  to  it."    (H.  H.  535.) 

"  The  most  essential  worship  of  the  Lord  consists 
in  the  life  of  charity,  but  not  in  a  life  of  piety  with- 
out this.  A  life  of  piety  without  the  life  of  charity, 
is  to  be  willing  to  consult  one's  self  alone,  not  the 
neighbor;  but  a  life  of  piety  with  the  life  of  charity, 
is  to  be  willing  to  consult  one's  self  for  the  sake  of 
the  neighbor.  The  former  life  is  grounded  in  love 
toward  self ;  but  the  latter  in  love  toward  the  neigh- 
bor."   (A.  C,  n.  8254.) 


176  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


And  what  was  Channing's  view  of  this  subject? 
What  did  he  believe  the  true  religion  to  consist  in  ? 
Take,  for  illustration,  the  following  passage,  and  see 
how  perfectly  his  idea  agrees  with  Swedenborg's. 

"  I  wish  you  to  feel  that  religion,  love  to  God,  is 
in  no  way  at  war  with  our  relations  and  present 
state.  It  does  not  take  us  out  of  the  world.  It  is 
not  inconsistent  with  any  of  the  useful  pursuits  of 
life,  but  unites  them  with  itself,  and  makes  them 
oblations  to  God.  He  who  feels  the  true  influence 
of  religion  does  not  relinquish  his  labor.  On  the 
contrary,  he  becomes  more  industrious,  labors  with 
more  cheerfulness,  is  more  contented  with  his  lot, 
however  difficult.  Religion  furnishes  motives  which 
give  to  existence  a  dignity  and  animation  such  as 
he  was  unconscious  of  before.  Neither  does  he  for- 
sake society.  On  the  contrary,  his  social  character 
is  improved.  Taught  by  God's  goodness,  he  looks 
round  on  his  fellow-beings  with  new  tenderness. 
A  more  benignant  smile  lights  up  his  countenance 
at  sight  of  human  virtue  and  happiness,  a  more  fre- 
quent pain  is  felt  at  sight  of  human  guilt  and  mis- 
ery. He  is  more  conscientious,  more  just  in  his 
transactions,  more  faithful  in  all  his  relations,  milder 
in  his  temper,  and  more  active  in  his  charity. 
Neither  does  he  give  up  all  his  enjoyments.  His 
religion  cuts  off  no  innocent  and  healthy  stream  of 
pleasure.  It  heightens  pleasure,  by  making  it  more 
rational,  more  pure,  more  equable,  more  consistent 


HAPPINESS. 


177 


with  all  the  duties  of  life.  This,  my  friends,  is  the 
nature  and  influence  of  true  religion. 

"  In  one  word,  religion  is  designed  to  refine  and 
improve  our  whole  nature,  to  make  us  better  in 
every  condition,  to  awaken  all  our  faculties,  to 
render  us  active,  intelligent,  generous,  pure,  temper- 
ate, meek,  contented  and  serene.  And  it  is  genuine 
just  so  far,  and  no  farther,  as  these  effects  are  pro- 
duced. This  influence  of  religion  over  the  whole 
life  is  the  proper  standard  by  which  it  should  be 
measured."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  14.) 


CCORDING  to  Swedenborg's  teachings,  happi- 


ness  comes  not  from  without ;  nor  does  it  depend 
on  the  amount  of  our  material  or  intellectual  pos- 
sessions, nor  on  the  character  of  our  surroundings, 
—  though  he  often  tells  us,  that  every  one's  sur- 
roundings in  the  great  Hereafter  are  determined 
by  the  quality  of  his  inner  life,  being  the  perfect 
reflection  or  pictorial  representation  of  that  life.  It 
is  not  something  that  the  Lord  imparts  or  that  He 
can  impart  arbitrarily  to  whomsoever  He  pleases. 
Although  it  all  comes  from  Him,  and  is  a  consequence 
of  the  influx  and  operation  of  his  own  unperverted 


XXXVII. 


HAPPINESS. 


M 


178  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


life  in  the  soul,  yet  its  enjoyment  depends  wholly  on 
ourselves.  Its  realization  is  subject  to  fixed  and  un- 
alterable conditions,  as  the  influx  of  the  Divine  life 
unperverted  is  subject  to  conditions ;  and  unless 
these  conditions  are  freely  accepted  and  complied 
with,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  God  Himself  to  com- 
municate happiness  to  a  single  soul. 

These  conditions  are,  the  inward  and  hearty  ac- 
knowledgment of  God  as  the  source  of  life  and  all 
its  joys,  and  a  cheerful  cooperation  with  Him  in  his 
perpetual  effort  to  overcome  our  selfish  and  evil 
propensities  and  subject  all  our  inclinations  to  his 
benign  control ;  a  resolute  purpose  of  obedience 
(carried  into  daily  practice)  to  all  the  laws  of  our 
spiritual  life,  which  have  been  revealed  or  in  any 
way  made  known  to  us ;  the  cultivation  and  har- 
monious development  of  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul, 
taking  care  always  to  keep  the  lower  in  due  sub- 
jection and  subordination  to  the  higher;  and  espe- 
cially the  cultivation  and  development  of  that  divin- 
est  of  all  human  qualities,  the  disinterested  love 
of  others, —  the  love  of  rendering  some  service  or 
doing  something  useful  to  human  society.  The  love 
of  use  is  one  of  the  purest  and  noblest  loves  of 
heaven ;  and  the  angels  (says  the  great  seer)  derive 
their  chief  happiness  from  the  exercise  of  this  love. 

Happiness,  then,  according  to  this  teaching,  comes 
as  the  sure  consequence  of  that  inward  soul-culture 
which  brings  all  the  faculties  into  harmonious  act- 


HAPPhXESS. 


1 79 


ivity,  and  enthrones  the  love  of  the  Lord  and  the 
neighbor,  or  the  disinterested  love  of  use,  as  supreme 
above  all  the  rest.  Whoever,  therefore,  is  actively 
engaged  in  the  performance  of  the  highest  use  of 
which  he  is  capable,  and  seeks  to  perform  that  use 
in  an  honest  and  faithful  manner,  with  little  or  no 
thought  of  a  personal  recompense,  is  by  such  activity 
growing  to  be  like  the  angels.  He  is  developing  in 
himself  the  noblest  human  love  —  the  unselfish  love 
of  use,  —  from  the  active  exercise  of  which  comes 
the  purest  human  bliss. 

This  is  a  condensed  statement  of  Swedenborg's 
doctrine  on  this  subject.  Whether  or  not  it  be  true, 
and  what  are  its  obvious  practical  tendencies,  the 
reader  is  left  to  judge  for  himself. 

The  following  passages  are  sufficient  to  confirm 
what  we  have  here  said  :  — 

"  The  Lord's  love  is  the  love  of  communicating  all 
that  He  has  to  all  his  creatures,  for  He  wills  the 
happiness  of  all.  And  a  similar  love  is  in  each  of 
those  who  love  Him,  because  the  Lord  is  in  them. 
Hence  there  is  with  the  angels  a  mutual  communi- 
cation of  their  delights  to  each  other.  .  . 

"  All  the  delights  of  heaven  are  conjoined  with 
uses  and  inherent  in  them,  because  uses  are  the 
goods  of  love  and  charity  in  which  the  angels  are. 
Therefore  every  one  has  delights  corresponding  in 
quality  with  his  uses,  and  in  degree  with  his  affection 
for  use. 


l8o  S  WEDENB  OR  G  AND  CHANNING. 


"  Certain  spirits,  from  an  opinion  conceived  in  the 
world,  believed  heavenly  happiness  to  consist  in  an 
idle  life,  and  in  being  served  by  others.  But  they 
were  told  that  happiness  by  no  means  consists  in 
mere  rest  from  employment,  because  every  one  would 
then  desire  that  others'  happiness  should  be  his  own. 
And  if  every  one  had  this  desire,  none  would  be 
happy.  Such  a  life  would  not  be  active  but  indolent, 
and  through  indolence  the  faculties  would  become 
torpid ;  when  yet  they  might  know  that  without  an 
active  life  there  can  be  no  happiness ;  and  that  ces- 
sation from  employment  is  only  for  the  sake  of  rec- 
reation, that  one  may  return  with  greater  alacrity 
to  the  active  business  of  his  life. 

"  It  was  afterwards  shown  by  numerous  evidences, 
that  angelic  life  consists  in  performing  the  good  works 
of  charity,  which  are  uses ;  and  that  the  angels  find 
all  their  happiness  in  use,  from  use  and  according  to 
use.  They  who  entertained  the  idea  that  heavenly 
joy  consisted  in  living  an  idle  life,  and  in  breathing 
eternal  delight  without  employment,  were  allowed  to 
perceive  the  nature  of  such  a  life,  in  order  to  make 
them  ashamed.  And  it  was  found  to  be  extremely 
sad,  and  that  after  a  short  time  —  all  joy  having 
thus  departed  —  they  felt  only  disgust  and  loathing 
for  it."    (H.  H.,  n.  399,  402,  '3.) 

And  the  following  from  Channing  shows  how 
exactly  his  idea  of  the  nature  and  conditions  of 


HAPPINESS. 


IS  i 


human  happiness  coincides  with  that  of  Sweden- 
borg. 

"  Force  of  moral  purpose  makes  us  happy,  Hap- 
piness does  not  consist,  as  men  are  too  apt  to  ima- 
gine, in  passive  enjoyments.  It  is  found  in  the 
strenuous  use  of  our  best  affections.  We  enjoy  most 
in  putting  forth  our  whole  nature,  in  being  fully  alive 
to  all  scenes  and  relations,  and  especially  in  preserv- 
ing our  noblest  faculties  in  healthy  and  efficient 
activity.  There  is  a  constant  satisfaction  attending 
the  vigorous  exercise  of  conscience,  while  a  feeble 
operation  of  the  moral  principle,  which  shows  us 
what  is  right  but  gives  no  strength  to  perform  it,  is  a 
source  of  constant  misery.  There  is  an  exhilaration, 
a  hope,  a  joy,  springing  up  within  us  when  we  will 
with  power  what  we  see  to  be  good,  when  we  are 
conscious  of  treading  under  foot  the  low  principles 
and  interests  which  would  part  us  from  God  and 
duty,  when  we  sacrifice  firmly  and  unreservedly 
selfish  desires  or  the  world's  favor  to  the  claims  of 
Christian  rectitude.  Moral  energy  inspires  an  un- 
conquerable resolution,  and  fills  us  with  a  rare  de- 
light. 

"  I  cannot  conceive  a  more  obvious  truth  than 
this,  that  it  is  not  the  circumstances  which  surround 
a  man,  but  the  thoughts  and  feelings  which  are  most 
familiar  to  his  mind,  on  which  his  satisfaction  de- 
pends. The  true  question  as  to  happiness  is  not 
'Where  am  I  ?  In  what  state  or  rank  do  I  exist?' 
16 


1 82  SIVEDENB OR G  AND  CHANNING. 


but  'To  what  end  is  my  mind  directed?  What  ob- 
jects have  acquired  the  control  of  my  affections?'  .  .  . 

"  Life  is  designed  to  form  and  prove  our  char- 
acters, to  call  forth  our  powers,  to  bring  our  virtues 
into  acts,  to  put  to  the  test  our  moral  and  religious 
principles,  and  thus  to  prepare  us  for  higher  states 
of  being.  Happiness  is  God's  end  ;  but  it  is  future, 
not  immediate,  happiness,  —  a  happiness  for  which 
the  foundation  is  to  be  laid  in  present  improvement, 
which  we  are  to  earn  by  exertion,  self-denial,  and 
the  voluntary  exercise  and  habitual  cultivation  of 
the  best  affections  of  which  our  nature  is  capable." 
{Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  34,  '5.) 


PNEUMA  TOL  OGY. 


PNEUMATOLOGY. 


XXXVIII. 

DEFINITE  VIEWS  OF  THE  HEREAFTFR. 

THUS  far,  in  comparing  the  beliefs  and  teachings 
of  the  two  writers  whose  names  stand  coupled 
on  every  other  page,  I  have  confined  myself  chiefly 
to  the  domain  of  Theology  —  moral,  revealed  and 
speculative.  And  on  nearly  forty  different  sub- 
jects—  most  of  them,  too,  subjects  of  profound 
moment  and  vital  interest  to  every  serious  and 
reflecting  mind  —  we  have  seen  that  their  teach- 
ings are  substantially  the  same.  However  differ- 
ent their  phraseology,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
agreement  in  their  thoughts  or  ideas  is  so  close  as 
to  fully  justify  the  assertion  that  they  are  identical. 
Nor  are  they  the  generally  accepted  beliefs  and 
teachings  of  Christians  a  hundred  years  ago  —  no, 
nor  of  many  of  the  most  popular  churches  even  in 
our  own  day ;  though  they  are  doubtless  held  now 
by  thousands  of  the  more  advanced  thinkers  in  every 
denomination.  They  are  views  toward  which  the 
deep  current  of  religious  thought  to-day  is  obvi- 
16*  185 


1 86  SWEDENBORG  AND  C MANNING. 


ously  tending,  and  which  many  of  the  best  minds 
in  nearly  all  the  churches  have  already  reached. 
This  fact  adds  greatly  to  the  interest  of  our  sub- 
ject, and  makes  the  many  agreements  I  have 
pointed  out  the  more  remarkable,  and  to  reflecting 
•minds  the  more  instructive  —  or  significant. 

And  when  we  come  to  a  domain  of  thought  where 
we  should  least  expect  any  agreement  between  these 
writers  —  I  mean  the  life  beyond  the  grave  —  the 
similarity  in  their  teachings  is  not  a  whit  less  strik- 
ing than  upon  the  subjects  already  considered.  This 
is  the  more  rlmarkable  and  unexpected,  because  of 
the  different  sources  of  their  information,  or  the  dif- 
ferent grounds  on  which  they  rest  the  instruction 
they  have  to  impart. 

Swedenborg  simply  reports  what  he  learned  about 
the  spiritual  world  "  from  things  heard  and  seen " 
there.  He  claims  to  have  been  intromitted  into 
that  world  by  the  opening  of  his  spiritual  senses, 
and  to  write  abput  it,  therefore,  as  a  faithful  eye- 
and  ear-witness;  just  as  a  traveller  in  foreign  lands 
records  what  he  sees  and  learns  of  the  people  and 
countries  he  visits.  But  Channing  gives  us  merely 
the  conclusions  of  his  judgment  based  on  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture,  and  upon  the  constitution  and 
known  laws  of  the  human  soul ;  "  for  its  future 
life,"  he  reasonably  concludes,  "  must  correspond 
to  the  soul's  great  laws  and  essential  powers."  If 
the  soul  be  immortal,  he  argues,  then  its  constitu- 


DEFIXITE  VIEWS  OF  THE  HEREAFTER.    1 87 


tion  and  laws  must  remain  essentially  the  same  after 
its  release  from  the  incumbrance  of  the  flesh. 

I  know  that  Swedenborg's  claim  to  have  enjoyed 
open  and  visible  intercourse  with  spirits  in  the  man- 
ner and  to  the  extent  alleged,  is  discredited  by  mul- 
titudes of  intelligent  and  honest  people, —  but  by  none, 
I  believe,  wk»  have  ever  studied  his  pneumatology 
enough  to  thoroughly  master  or  comprehend  it.  And 
he  foresaw  that  it  would  be  discredited  —  that  it 
would  encounter  the  derision  of  some,  the  dis- 
belief of  more,  and  be  set  down  by  not  a  few  as 
the  impudent  claim  of  an  impostor  or  the  halluci- 
nation of  a  fanatic.  And  how  well  have  facts  justi- 
fied his  expectation !  But  the  way  in  which  his 
extraordinary  claim  would  be  received  or  treated 
was  a  matter  of  little  concern  to  him.    He  says  :  — 

"  Many,  I  am  well  aware,  will  insist  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  any  one  to  converse  with  spirits  and 
angels  during  his  life  in  the  body;  many,  that 
such  intercourse  must  be  mere  fancy  and  illusion; 
some,  that  I  have  invented  such  relations  in  order 
to  gain  credit ;  while  others  will  make  other  objec- 
tions. To  all  such  objections,  however,  I  am  quite 
indifferent;  for  I  have  seen,  have  heard,  and  have 
had  sensible  experience  of  what  I  am  about  to  de- 
clare."   (A.  C,  n.  68.) 

And  he  tells  us  why  this  intercourse  was  per- 
mitted him.  It  was,  that  the  tide  of  skepticism  in 
regard  to  the  reality  of  a  spiritual  world,  might  be 


1 88  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


arrested;  that  men's  faith  in  immortality  might  be 
strengthened  and  confirmed;  that  the  nature  of  both 
heaven  and  hell  might  be  clearly  understood;  and 
that  souls  might  be  encouraged  and  helped  on  their 
heavenward  way,  by  clearer,  more  definite  and  vivid 
conceptions  of  the  Future  Life..  Referring  to  the 
prevalent  ignorance  among  Christians  concerning 
the  spiritual  world,  he  says  :  — 

"  The  angels  heartily  rejoice  that  it  has  pleased 
the  Lord  at  this  time  to  reveal  to  mankind  many 
things  respecting  heaven  and  hell;  and  thereby  to 
dispel,  as  far  as  possible,  the  darkness  which  is  every 
day  increasing." 

And  again :  — 

"  Lest,  therefore,  from  ignorance  of  the  existence 
of  a  spiritual  world,  and  the  doubts  respecting  the 
reality  of  heaven  and  hell  which  result  from  such 
ignorance,  men  should  be  infatuated  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  become  materialists  and  atheists,  it  has  pleased 
the  Lord  to  open  my  spiritual  sight,  and,  as  to  my 
spirit,  to  elevate  me  into  heaven  and  let  me  down 
into  hell,  and  exhibit  to  my  view  the  nature  of 
both."    {Influx,  n.  3.) 

And,  as  he  often  tells  us,  this  seeing  the  objects 
and  spirits  of  the  other  world  occurred  in  states  of 
full  wakefulness,  and  was  as  vivid  as  the  sight  of 
men  and  objects  in  this  world.  Now,  he  either  had 
this  experience  and  did  actually  see  and  converse 
with  spirits  as  man  with  man ;  or  he  was  under  a 


DEFINITE  VIEWS  OF  THE  HEREAFTER.    1 89 

strange  hallucination  for  nearly  thirty  consecutive 
years  — all  this  time  mistaking  the  things  of  his 
imagination  for  objective  realities;  or  he  acted  the 
part  of  a  villanous  impostor  —  and  this,  too,  without 
any  conceivable  motive. 

But  not  many  intelligent  people  nowadays  accept 
this  latter  theory.  And  do  the  passages  we  have 
already  quoted  from  his  writings,  read  like  the 
teachings  of  one  who  was  unable  to  distinguish 
facts  from  fancies? — of  one  who  knew  not  the 
difference  between  subjective  states  and  objective 
realities?  —  of  one  who  could  not  even  tell  the  dif- 
ference between  his  own  lively  fancies  and  the  sights 
and  sounds  that  he  actually  saw  and  heard  ?  Yet 
this  second  theory  is  the  one  generally  received  by 
the  philosophers  (?)  and  scientists  (?)  and  reputed 
sages  of  our  times  ! 

Then  there  is  another  difficulty  which  this  second 
theory  has  to  encounter,  which  is  this:  That  many 
—  nearly  all,  in  fact  —  of  this  more  than  half  crazy 
man's  (for  such  he  certainly  was,  according  to  the 
theory)  imaginings  about  heaven,  are  found,  as  we 
shall  see,  to  be  identically  the  same  as  the  sober 
conclusions  on  the  same  subject,  that  were  reached 
by  the  cool,  thoughtful,  rational,  sober-minded  Chan- 
ning.  Where  in  all  history  shall  we  find  such  a  mar- 
velous similarity  between  the  fancies  of  a  dreamer 
or  monomaniac,  and  the  conclusions  of  calm,  unim- 
passioned,  unclouded  reason  ?    Is  not  the  difficulty 


[90  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


here  presented  sufficiently  great  to  suggest  the  possi- 
bility, at  least,  of  some  defect  or  inadequacy  in  the 
theory  ? 

We  sometimes  hear  it  said  that  any  disclosures 
concerning  the  other  world  could  be  of  no  practical 
value  if  true ;  that  we  have  quite  enough  to  do  while 
in  the  flesh,  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  this  world ; 
that  knowledge  of  the  other  would  not  help  us  in 
the  performance  of  our  duties  here,  —  would  not 
strengthen  our  faith,  enlarge  our  charity,  exalt  our 
aspirations  or  increase  our  usefulness. 

Not  so  thought  the  pure-hearted  and  broad-minded 
Channing.  He  lamented  the  weakness  of  men's  faith 
in  Immortality.  He  mourned  over  the  prevailing 
skepticism  in  regard  to  the  great  Hereafter.  He 
believed  that  this  skepticism  could  best  be  removed 
by  giving  people  more  definite,  rational  and  vivid 
conceptions  of  the  life  beyond ;  and  that  such  in- 
struction would  be  no  hindrance  but  a  help  to  our 
improvement  as  well  as  usefulness  on  earth ;  just  as 
a  belief  in  the  soul,  and  a  knowledge  of  its  consti- 
tution and  laws,  help  rather  than  hinder  us  in  the 
proper  care  of  our  bodies.  Therefore  he  endeav- 
ored to  bring  the  doctrine  of  a  Future  Life  to  bear 
more  powerfully  on  the  mind,  to  become  more  real 
and  effectual. 

"This  faith  [in  immortality],"  he  says,  "is  lament- 
ably weak  iri  the  multitude  of  men.  To  multitudes, 
Heaven  is  almost  a  world  of  fancy.    It  wants  sub- 


DEFINITE  VIEWS  OF  THE  HEREAFTER.  I9I 


stance.  The  idea  of  a  world  in  which  beings  exist 
without  these  gross  bodies,  exist  as  pure  spirits,  or 
clothed  with  refined  and  spiritual  frames,  strikes 
them  as  a  fiction.  What  cannot  be  seen  or  touched, 
appears  unreal.  This  is  mournful,  but  not  wonder- 
ful ;  for  how  can  men  who  immerse  themselves  in 
the  body  and  its  interests,  and  cultivate  no  acquaint- 
ance with  their  own  souls  and  spiritual  powers,  com- 
prehend a  higher,  spiritual  life  ?  .  .  .  This  skepticism 
as  to  things  spiritual  and  celestial,  is  as  irrational 
and  unphilosophical  as  it  is  degrading."  {\Vorks, 
Vol.  IV.,  p.  219.) 

And  what  is  the  method  he  suggests  for  over- 
coming this  skepticism,  and  bringing  the  doctrine 
of  a  future  life  home  to  men's  minds  as  a  grand  and 
inspiring  reality  ?  It  is  a  little  remarkable  that  it 
should  be  identically  the  method  that  Providence 
had  anticipated  and  amply  provided,  without  men's 
seeking,  three-quarters  of  a  century  before. 

"  This  method,"  he  says,  "  is  to  seek  some  clearer, 
more  definite  conception  of  the  future  state.  That 
world  seems  less  real,  for  want  of  some  distinctness 
in  its  features.  We  should  all  believe  it  more  firmly 
if  we  conceived  of  it  more  vividly.  It  seems  unsub- 
stantial from  its  vagueness  and  dimness.  .  .  Perhaps 
the  spiritual  world  never  becomes  so  near  and  real 
to  us,  as  when  we  follow  into  it  dear  friends,  and 
sympathize  with  them  in  the  improvements  and 
enjoyments  of  that  blessed  life.    Do  not  say  that 


I92  S WEDENB OR G  AND  CHANNING. 


there  is  danger  here  of  substituting  imagination  for 
Truth.  There  is  no  danger  if  we  confine  ourselves 
to  the  spiritual  views  of  Heaven  given  us  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  interpret  these  by  the  princi- 
ples and  powers  of  our  own  souls.  To  me  the  sub- 
ject is  too  dear  and  sacred  to  allow  me  to  indulge 
myself  in  dreams.  I  want  reality;  I  want  truth; 
and  this  I  find  in  God's  Word  and  in  the  human 
soul."    {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  220,  '21.) 

And  what  are  some  of  the  things  about  Heaven 
which  this  great  thinker  found  "  in  God's  Word  and 
m  the  human  soul  ?  "  It  will  interest  every  serious 
mind  to  consider  them,  and  especially  to  compare 
them  with  the  testimony  in  relation  to  the  same 
subjects,  given  by  the  Swedish  seer  seventy-six  years 
before ;  —  testimony,  be  it  remembered,  which  he 
gives  professedly  as  a  careful  observer,  an  honest 
eye-  and  ear-witness  of  life  beyond  the  grave. 


CONNECTION  OF  THE  TWO  WORLDS.^       1 93 


XXXIX. 


CONNECTION  OF  THE  NATURAL  WITH  THE  SPIR- 
ITUAL WORLD. 

n^HERE  are  few  things  of  which  Swedenborg 


intimate  connection  existing  between  the  natural 
and  the  spiritual  worlds,  or  between  good  men  on 
earth  and  angels  in  heaven.  As  to  our  spirits,  he 
says,  we  are  in  the  spiritual  world  now  and  always, 
though  all  unconscious  of  the  fact.  Invisible  com- 
panions are  in  close  association  with  us,  hourly  and 
strongly  operating  upon  our  thoughts  and  feelings, 
our  ends  and  aims,  influencing  us  for  good  or  for 
evil,  according  to  our  own  internal  leanings,  that  is, 
according  to  our  willingness  to  yield  to  the  voice  of 
duty  and  the  promptings  of  unselfish  love,  or  to 
the  suggestions  of  selfishness  and  worldly  greed. 
Every  human  soul  is  in  near  and  organic  relation 
with  othet  souls,  most  of  whom  have  laid  aside 
their  fleshly  covering  and  are  no  longer  visible  to 
the  eye  of  sense ;  for  the  natural  eye  can  see  only 
natural  objects  —  objects  that  belong  to  the  realm 
of  nature.  But  we  may  know  in  general  the  char- 
acter of  our  invisible  associates  by  attending  care- 
fully to  the  motives*  which  we  allow  to  govern  us  in 
the  ordinary  intercourse  of  daily  life  —  to  our  ruling 


more  familiarly  than  of  the 


N 


194  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 

purposes  of  action,  our  ends  and  aims.  If  these  are 
selfish,  base  and  grovelling,  such  is  the  character  of 
our  associate  spirits;  but  if  just  and  righteous  and 
unselfish,  so  are  our  invisible  companions;  —  we 
walk  in  company  with  angels  and  inhale  their  in- 
spiring breath,  while  yet  we  tabernacle  in  the  flesh. 

"  There  are  continually  associated  with  man," 
says  Swedenborg,  "angels  and  spirits  —  angels  from 
heaven  and  spirits  from  hell.  .  .  He  cannot  see  them 
except  by  the  eye  of  his  internal  man,  which  is 
suited  to  the  view  of  such  objects.  But  for  several 
reasons  the  sight  of  this  eye  is  not  opened  in  man 
during  his  abode  in  the  [natural]  world."  (A.  C,  n. 
5848,  'g.) 

"  In  general  the  character  of  the  spirits  associated 
with  a  man  is  according  to  the  character  of  the 
man.  If  he  is  covetous,  the  spirits  are  covetous; 
if  haughty,  the  spirits  are  haughty ;  if  desirous  of 
revenge,  so  are  the  spirits ;  if  deceitful,  the  spirits 
are  of  like  character.  An  [evil]  man  attaches  to 
himself  spirits  from  hell  according  to  his  life.  The 
hells  are  most  exactly  distinguished  according  to 
the  lusts  of  evil  and  all  the  differences  thereof. 
Hence  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  a  case  wherein 
spirits  similar  to  the  man  who  is  in  evil,  may  not  be 
called  forth  and  adjoined  to  him."    (Ibid.,  n.  5851.) 

"  The  angels  flow  into  the  ends  which  a  man  re- 
gards, and  so,  through  the  ends',  into  those  things 
which  follow  from  them.    They  also  flow-in  through 


CONNECTION  OF  THE  TWO  WORLDS.       1 95 


good  spirits  into  those  things  in  man,  which  are 
goods  of  life  and  truths  of  faith,  and  by  these  they 
withdraw  him  as  much  as  possible  from  evils  and 
falsities.  This  influx  is  tacit  and  imperceptible  to 
men,  but  still  operative  in  a  hidden  manner,  and 
effective  principally  of  the  turning  from  evil  ends 
and  the  insinuation  of  good  ones ;  but  so  far  as  they 
are  unable  to  effect  this,  they  remove  themselves 
and  flow-in  more  remotely,  and  in  this  case  the  evil 
spirits  approach  nearer ;  for  the  angels  cannot  be 
present  in  evil  ends,  that  is,  in  the  loves  of  self  and 
the  world,  except  remotely."    (A.  C,  n.  5854.) 

"The  Lord's  kingdom  in  the  earths  is  the  church, 
which  acts  in  unity  with  his  kingdom  in  the  heavens." 
(A.  C,  9276.)  "The  societies  which  constitute  it  are 
scattered  through  the  whole  world,  and  consist  of 
those  who  are  principled  in  love  to  Him  and  in 
charity  towards  the  neighbor ;  but  these  scattered 
societies  are  collected  by  the  Lord  that  they  also 
may  represent  one  man,  as  do  the  societies  in  heaven. 
These  societies  are  not  only  within  the  church  [where 
the  Word  is],  but  outside  of  it  also,  and  together 
are  called  the  Lord's  church  scattered  and  collected 
from  the  good  in  the  whole  world,  which  is  also 
called  a  communion.  This  communion  or  church 
is  the  Lord's  kingdom  on  earth  conjoined  to  his 
kingdom  in  the  heavens,  and  thus  conjoined  to  Him- 
self."   (A.  C,  n.  7396.) 


196  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 

And  Channing,  too,  had  a  clear  perception  of  this 
same  truth.  He  saw  that  there  is  a  close  and  vital 
union  between  spirits  in  the  other  world  and  men  in 
this  world  —  between  Christians  in  heaven  and  Chris- 
tians on  earth ;  —  that  they  are  to  be  thought  of  as 
constituting  one  and  the  same  Body.  He  saw  that 
"the  Church  Militant  and  the  Church  Triumphant 
are  One  Church;"  and  that,  "by  unity  of  soul  with 
Christ's  Church"  here  below,  "we  are  admitted  into 
a  real  Communion  of  Saints"  in  the  world  above  — 
a  communion  "which  will  gain  strength  and  large- 
ness as  we  and  they  advance  towards  celestial  ex- 
cellence."   In  proof  of  this,  I  cite  the  following:  — 

"  Christ  has  one  church,  not  many  churches. 
All  Christians  are  comprehended  in  One  Community. 
However  scattered,  separated  and  divided,  —  in  their 
fellowship  with  One  Head,  in  their  participation  of 
One  Faith  and  Spirit,  they  are  attracted  by  a  com- 
bining principle,  —  which,  though  counteracted  now, 
can  never  be  destroyed.  .  . 

"  Now  if  all  Christians  constitute  One  Community 
only,  then  it  is  implied,  not  merely  that  Christians 
of  the  different  denominations  which  are  scattered 
through  the  world,  are  nearly  connected  with  one 
another  here  below,  but  that  Christians  on  Earth 
and  Christians  in  Heaven  are  livingly  bound  in  fel- 
lowship. Being  equally  united  to  Christ,  these  two 
classes  are  necessarily  comprehended  in  that  One 
Body,  which  is  quickened  by  the  One  Spirit  of 


CONNECTION  OF  THE  TWO  WORLDS.       1 97 


adoption  that  animates  the  whole  vast  Family  of  the 
Children  of  God.  Consequently  they  sustain  most 
intimate  relations  with  one  another,  instantly  and 
everywhere. 

"  Christians  in  heaven  look  with  new  clearness  of 
spiritual  vision  into  the  depth  of  this  Love  of  Christ 
'which  passeth  knowledge,'  until  they  too  become 
'filled  with  the  fulness  of  God.'  And  can  we  imag- 
ine that,  embosomed  within  this  Divine  Compassion 
which  is  always  descending  from  Heaven  to  earth, 
and  living  in  the  midst  of  the  warm  and  attractive 
beams  of  this  all-embracing  Charity,  they  can  shake 
off  concern  for  the  Church  below?  Through  closer 
adherence  to  the  Head,  can  they  become  severed 
from  the  members  who  are  so  dear  and  near  to  Him 
as  to  be  called  'flesh  of  his  flesh'? 

"  Death  cannot  take  him  [the  true  Christian]  out 
of  this  Church  [universal],  nor  in  the  least  degree 
loosen  his  connexions  with  it.  On  the  contrary,  he 
goes  to  join  the  triumphant,  purified,  blessed  portion 
of  this  Community,  among  •vhom  his  affections  for 
his  militant  brethren  here,  instead  of  being  extin- 
guished, will  gain  new  fervor. 

"  My  friends,  I  should  not  have  insisted  so  long 
upon  this  Communion  between  Christians  in  Heaven 
and  Christians  on  earth,  did  I  not  think  this  truth 
an  eminently  practical  one.  To  many  no  lessons 
seem  practical,  except  the  minute  inculcation  of 
common  duties.  But,  in  fact,  the  most  practical 
17* 


198  S  WEDENB  OR  G  AND  CHANNING. 


views  in  religion  are  those  which  awaken  the  loftiest 
sentiments  and  touch  the  noblest  springs  of  action. 
And  the  subject  now  discussed  is  peculiarly  fitted 
to  give  life  and  energy  to  our  convictions  of  the 
Spiritual  World,  and  to  lift  our  minds  above  the 
sordid  mood  into  which  they  are  so  prone  to  sink. 

"  Whatever  goes  beyond  our  present  experience, 
passes  with  many  for  visionary  and  romantic.  The 
Spiritual  World  is  to  them  a  void.  And  the  idea  of 
higher  orders  of  beings  [that  is,  of  human  beings 
with  wisdom  and  love  received  and  operative  in  a 
higher  degree  than  with  us],  though  so  plainly 
revealed  in  Scripture,  and  attested  by  all  traditions, 
gains  from  them  merely  a  half  skeptical  assent.  But 
if  Revelation  be  worthy  of  any  credit,  the  intercourse 
between  Heaven  and  Earth  is  most  close  and  con- 
stant. Jesus  Christ,  Risen  and  Glorified,  —  who  once 
lived  here  below,  —  now  lives  on  high,  not  as  an  un- 
concerned Spectator,  but  as  a  mighty  Agent  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  human  race.  Angels  commis- 
sioned by  his  boundl«s  love,  He  sends  forth  to 
minister  to  all  heirs  of  salvation.  .  .  And  to  the  mind 
that  can  shake  off  the  clogs  of  earth  and  freely  exer- 
cise its  spiritual  powers,  these  views  will  appear  to 
be  as  sober  and  rational  as  they  are  joyful  and  ex- 
alting."   (The  Perfect  Life,  pp.  293,  '4,  '9,  308,  '9.) 

At  the  time  Swedenborg  wrote  all  faith  in  the 
reality  of  a  spiritual  world  was  well-nigh  extin- 


CONNECTION  OF  THE  TWO  WORLDS.        1 99 


guished  throughout  Christendom.  People  had  for 
so  many  centuries  been  taught  to  believe  that  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  means  the  re- 
suscitation of  the  material  body  at  some  distant  and 
indefinite  future,  that  they  had  come  to  think  of  the 
material  realm  as  the  only  substantial  realm,  and  of 
the  material  body,  therefore,  as  indispensable  to  the 
completeness  if  not  to  the  existence  of  a  human 
being. 

But  the  great  seer  lifts  the  veil,  and  discloses  a 
world  beyond  the  grave  as  much  more  real  and 
substantial  as  it  is  more  wonderful  and  populous 
than  this  world  of  matter.  He  reveals  a  truly 
human  world,  —  a  world,  that  is,  peopled  with 
human  beings  who  began  existence  on  this  lower 
plane,  and  are  still  animated  by  human  thoughts, 
feelings,  desires  and  aspirations,  touched  by  human 
sympathies,  occupied  with  human  interests,  and  capa- 
ble of  human  enjoyment  and  human  suffering. 

And  such  was  evidently  Channing's  conception 
of  the  world  beyond.  The  heaven  he  thought  of 
was  as  perfectly  human  in  all  respects,  as  is  the 
heaven  that  Swedenborg  has  so  fully  described. 
Its  interests  and  occupations  and  associations  and 
sources  of  enjoyment,  were  all  strictly  human. 
This  is  plain  from  the  passages  I  shall  quote  in 
the  chapters  following. 

And  since  no  remarks  of  my  own  can  tend  much 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  main  object  had 


200  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


in  view  in  the  preparation  of  the  present  work,  I 
propose,  therefore,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  to  remain 
silent  in  the  subsequent  chapters  of  this  division, 
and  to  allow  the  writers  alone,  whose  views  I  am 
comparing,  to'  speak  each  for  himself :  —  Only  re- 
minding the  reader  here  of  the  interesting  fact 
already  mentioned,  that,  while  Swedenborg  derived 
his  information  respecting  the  spiritual  realm  he 
tells  us  of,  from  open  intercourse  with  that  realm 
—  from  "  things  heard  and  seen  "  when  his  spiritual 
senses  were  opened  —  Channing  derived  his  from 
reason,  experience,  the  Sacred  Scripture,  and  the 
known  laws  and  constitution  of  the  human  soul. 
Agreeing  information  drawn  from  such  independent 
sources,  while  it  adds  greatly  to  the  strength  of  the 
testimony,  cannot  fail  to  add  considerably  also  to 
the  interest  of  the  subject. 


XL. 

MAN  THE  GERM  OF  THE  FUTURE  ANGEL. 

SWEDENBORG.— "  Men  who  are  principled  in 
love  to  the  Lord  and  charity  towards  their 
neighbor  during  their  abode  in  the  world,  have 
with  and  in  themselves  angelic  intelligence  and 
wisdom,  but  hidden  in  the  inmosts  of  their  interior 
memory ;  which  intelligence  and  wisdom  cannot 


GERM  OF  THE  FUTURE  ANGEL.  201 


possibly  make  itself  manifest  to  them  until  they 
have  put  off  things  corporeal."    (A.  C,  n.  2494.) 

"  That  angels  are  from  the  human  race  may  be 
evident  from  this,  that  angelic  minds  and  human 
minds  are  similar.  Both  enjoy  the  faculty  of  under- 
standing, perceiving  and  willing.  Both  are  formed 
to  receive  heaven ;  for  the  human  as  well  as  the 
angelic  mind  is  capable  of  wisdom,  but  it  does  not 
become  so  wise  in  the  world  because  it  is  in  an 
earthly  body,  and  in  this  the  spiritual  mind  thinks 
naturally.  But  it  is  otherwise  when  released  from 
its  connection  with  this  body;  then  it  no  longer 
thinks  naturally  but  spiritually ;  and  when  it  thinks 
spiritually,  it  thinks  things  incomprehensible  and 
ineffable  to  the  natural  man ;  thus  it  becomes  wise 
as  an  angel.  Hence  it  may  be  seen  that  the  internal 
of  man,  which  is  called  his  spirit,  is,  in  its  essence, 
an  angel."    (H.  H.,  n.  314.) 

"An  angel  also  denotes  the  Divine  of  the  Lord 
with  the  men  who  receive  it ;  for  they  who  are  in 
the  good  of  love  and  in  the  truths  of  faith  from  the 
Lord,  become  angels  after  death  ;  and  they  who  be- 
come angels  are  angels  as  to  their  interiors  even 
while  living  in  the  world.  Hence  it  is  that  John 
the  Baptist  is  called  an  angel  [messenger]  in  the 
Word,  Luke  vii.  27."    (A.  C,  n.  10,527.) 

CHANNING. — "Jesus  Christ  thought  nothingwor- 
thy  of  his  notice  but  man's  soul ;  and  the  whole  tone 


202  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHAINING. 


of  his  Gospel  is,  that  the  soul  is  capable  of  all  that 
is  great  and  excellent,  that  it  may  become  the  image 
of  God,  that  it  may  ascend  to  the  glory  and  purity 
of  angels.  It  is  constantly  his  doctrine  that  man 
is  appointed  to  join  the  society  of  heaven,  and  that 
he  will  there  shine  as  the  sun,  that  he  will  exchange 
his  present  imperfection  for  spotless  purity.  As  in 
the  child  we  view  the  future  man,  so  in  man  we  are 
taught  by  the  Gospel  to  view  the  germ  of  the  future 
angel.  We  are  taught  that  there  is  no  height  of 
excellence  in  the  universe  to  which  the  human  mind 
in  the  progress  of  eternity  may  not  attain.  .  .  What 
a  splendor  is  thrown  round  human  nature,  when  it 
is  thus  viewed  as  the  future  associate  of  all  that  is 
most  excellent  in  heaven,  as  the  bright  reflection  of 
the  glorious  goodness  of  the  Creator !  "  {Memoirs, 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  48,  '9.) 


XLI. 

WHAT  WE  CARRY  TO  THE  OTHER  WORLD. 

SWEDENBORG.  — "When  a  man  passes  from 
the  natural  into  the  spiritual  world,  he  takes 
with  him  all  that  belongs  to  him  as  a  man  except 
his  terrestrial  body,  as  has  been  proved  to  me  by 
much  experience.  For  when  he  enters  the  spiritual 
world,  or  the  life  after  death,  he  is  in  a  body  as  he 


WHAT  WE  CARRY  TO  THE  OTHER  WORLD.  203 


was  in  the  natural  world,  and  to  all  appearance  in 
the  same  body.  He  sees  as  before ;  he  hears  and 
speaks  as  before;  and  when  he  is  touched  he  feels 
as  before.  He  also  longs,  desires,  wishes,  thinks,  re- 
flects, is  affected,  loves  and  wills  as  before.  .  . 

'  "  In  a  word,  when  man  passes  from  one  life  into 
the  other,  or  from  one  world  into  the  other,  it  is  just 
as  if  he  passed  from  one  place  to  another;  and  he 
carries  with  him  all  things  which  he  possessed  in 
himself  as  a  man,  so  that  it  cannot  be  said  that  after 
death  —  which  is  only  the  death  of  the  terrestrial 
body, —  he  has  lost  anything  that  really  belonged 
to  him.  .  .  Still,  however,  the  difference  between  a 
man's  life  in  the  spiritual  and  his  life  in  the  natural 
world,  is  great,  both  in  respect  to  the  external  senses 
and  their  affections  and  the  internal  senses  and  theii 
affections."    (H.  H.,  n.  461,  '2.) 

CHANNING. — "The  true  view  of  heaven  which 
the  Scriptures  give, — that  which  reason  sanctions,  anr* 
that  which  we  can  most  powerfully  realize,  is,  that  i( 
-will  not  essentially  change,  but  rather  improve,  our 
nature.  We  shall  be  the  same  beings  as  on  earth ; 
we  shall  retain  our  present  faculties,  our  present 
affections,  our  love  of  knowledge,  love  of  beauty, 
love  of  action,  love  of  approbation,  our  sympathy, 
gratitude,  and  pleasure  in  success.  We  shall  proba- 
bly, too,  have  bodies  not  very  different  from  what  we 
now  have."    {Me moirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  22.) 


204  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


XLII. 

OUR  SENSES  IN  THE  HEREAFTER. 

SWEDENBORG.—"  This  I  can  positively  affirm, 
that  a  spirit  has  more  exquisite  sight  and  also 
more  exquisite  hearing  than  a  man  in  the  body; 
and  what  will  seem  surprising,  a  more  exquisite 
sense  of  smell,  and  especially  of  touch  ;  for  spirits 
see,  hear  and  touch  each  other.  He  who  believes 
in  a  life  after  death  might  also  infer  this  from  the 
consideration,  that  no  life  is  possible  without  sense, 
and  that  the  nature  or  quality  of  the  sense  is  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  life;  yea,  that  the  intellectual 
principle  is  nothing  but  an  exquisite  sense  of  interior 
things."    (A.  C,  n.  4622.) 

"  The  senses  of  those  in  heaven  are  far  more 
acute  than  they  were  in  the  world ;  that  is,  they 
see  and  hear  more  perfectly  and  also  think  more 
wisely;  for  they  see  by  the  light  of  heaven  which 
exceeds  by  many  degrees  the  light  of  this  world ; 
and  they  hear  by  a  spiritual  atmosphere  which  also 
surpasses  by  many  degrees  the  atmosphere  of  the 
earth.  The  difference  between  these  external  senses 
is  like  the  difference  between  a  clear  sky  and  a  dark 
mist,  or  between  the  light  of  noon-day  and  the  shade 
of  evening.  .  .  The  external  sight  of  the  angels  also 
corresponds  to  their  internal  sight,  or  their  under- 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


OUR  SENSES  IN  THE  HEREAFTER.  205 


standing ;  for  with  them  one  sight  flows  into  the 
other,  and  they  act  as  one.  Hence  their  wonderful 
acuteness  of  vision.  In  like  manner  also  their  hear- 
ing corresponds  to  their  perception  which  is  both  of 
the  understanding  and  the  will."    (H.  H.,  n.  462.)  • 

CHANNING. — "  It  is  possible  that  the  distance 
of  heaven  lies  wholly  in  the  veil  of  flesh,  which  we 
now  want  power  to  penetrate.  A  new  sense,  a  new 
eye,  might  show  the  spiritual  world  compassing  us 
on  every  side.  .  .  In  an  important  sense  they  [the  in- 
habitants of  heaven]  may  be  present;  for  what  do 
we  mean  by  presence  ?  Am  I  not  present  to  those 
of  you  who  are  beyond  the  reach  of  my  arm,  but 
whom  I  distinctly  see  ?  And  is  it  at  all  inconsistent 
with  our  knowledge  of  nature,  to  suppose  that  those 
in  heaven,  whatever  be  their  abode,  may  have  spirit- 
ual senses, —  organs,  by  which  they  may  discern  the 
remote  as  clearly  as  we  do  the  near?"  {Works,  NoX. 
IV.,  p.  228.) 
18 


206  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


XLIII. 

'RECOGNITION  OF  FRIENDS  IN  THE  OTHER  LIFE. 

O  WEDENBORG.  —  "  The  first  state  of  man  after 
^  death  is  similar  to  his  state  in  the  world,  because 
then  he  is  in  externals.  He  has  also  a  similar  face, 
similar  speech,  and  a  similar  mind,  therefore  a  sim- 
ilar moral  and  civil  life. .  .  Thus  one  life  is  continued 
into  the  other,  and  death  is  only  the  passage  from 
one  to  the  other.  .  .  Hence  it  is  that  all,  when  they 
first  come  into  the  other  life,  are  recognized  by  their 
friends,  relations,  and  those  with  whom  they  were  in 
any  way  acquainted ;  and  that  they  also  converse 
together,  and  afterwards  associate  according  to  their 
friendship  in  the  world.  I  have  often  heard  that 
those  who  came  from  the  world  rejoiced  at  seeing 
their  friends  again,  and  that  their  friends  in  turn  re- 
joiced that  they  had  come  to  them.  It  is  a  com- 
mon occurrence  that  one  married  partner  meets  the 
other,  and  they  mutually  congratulate  each  other; 
they  also  remain  together  for  a  time,  longer  or 
shorter  according  to  the  delight  that  had  attended 
their  dwelling  together  in  the  world.  [But  if  there 
was  no  internal  or  spiritual  union,  a  disagreement 
and  aversion  erelong  become  manifest,  and  they 
mutually  separate.]  "    (H.  H.,  n.  493,  '4.) 


GLORIFYING  GOD  IN  HEAVEN. 


207 


CHANNING.— "  It  seems  to  me  accordant  with 
the  principles  of  human  nature,  to  suppose  that  the 
departed  meet  peculiar  congratulation  from  friends 
who  had  gone  before  them  to  that  better  world  ; 
and  especially  from  all  who  had  in  any  way  given 
aids  to  their  virtue ;  from  parents  who  had  instilled 
into  them  the  first  lessons  of  love  to  God  and  man ; 
from  associates  whose  examples  had  won  them  to 
goodness,  whose  faithful  counsels  deterred  them 
from  sin."    {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  231.) 


^  persuaded  themselves  that  heavenly  joy  and 
eternal  happiness  were  a  perpetual  glorification  of 
God  and  an  endless  festival  [of  oral  worship]  ;  for 
they  had  believed  when  in  the  world  that  after  death 
they  would  see  God,  and  that  the  life  of  heaven  is 
called  a  perpetual  sabbath  because  of  the  worship  of 
God  there." 

[But  after  an  experience  which  convinced  them 
of  their  error,  and  prepared  them  to  receive  the  true 
view,  they  were  thus  instructed  by  the  angels] :  — 

"  You  do  not  know  what  glorifying  God  means. 
It  means  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  love ;  that  is,  to 


XLIV. 


GLORIFYING  GOD  IN  HEAVEN 


were  some  who  had 


208  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


perform  faithfully,  sincerely  and  diligently  the  work 
of  one's  office ;  for  this  is  from  the  love  of  God  and 
the  neighbor,  and  is  the  bond  and  good  of  society. 
By  this  God  is  glorified,  and  then  by  worship  at 
stated  times.  Have  you  not  read  these  words  of 
the  Lord  ?  '  Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,  that  ye 
bear  much  fruit ;  so  shall  ye  be  my  disciples.'  John 
xv.  8."    (T.  C.  R.,  n.  738.    Also  H.  H.,  n.  404.) 

CHANNING.  —  "Heaven  is  often  described  as 
a  place  where  eternity  will  be  spent  in  immediate 
acts  of  Divine  worship.  This  error  arises  from  a 
too  literal  and  narrow  interpretation  of  passages  in 
Scripture.  Their  true  meaning  is,  that  at  all  times 
and  in  all  places  spirits  in  heaven  will  possess  that 
sensibility  to  God  which  places  of  worship  are  par- 
ticularly designed  to  promote.  .  .  This  spirit  of  devo- 
tion which  we  ought  to  cherish  on  earth,  will  indeed 
be  the  habit  of  heaven  ;  but  its  exercise  will  be  con- 
sistent with  the  greatest  variety  of  scenes  and  em- 
ployments, and  very  unlike  that  wearisome  monot- 
ony of  an  endless  round  of  religious  services  which 
some  seem  to  anticipate."  {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  pp. 
1 8,  19.) 


MINISTRY  OF  ANGELS. 


209 


XLV. 

MINISTRY  OF  ANGELS. 

SWEDENBORG.  —  "  Man  does  not  know  that  he 
is  governed  of  the  Lord  by  means  of  angels  and 
spirits,  and  that  there  are  with  every  individual  at 
least  two  spirits  and  two  angels.  By  the  spirits  he 
has  communication  with  the  world  of  spirits,  and  by 
the  angels  with  heaven.  .  . 

"  While  he  remains  unregenerate,  evil  spirits  are 
with  him,  dominating  him  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
angels,  notwithstanding  they  are  present,  are  able  to 
do  scarcely  more  than  prevent  his  plunging  into  the 
lowest  depths  of  mischief,  and  incline  him  to  some 
sort  of  good,  which  they  effect  by  making  his  nat- 
ural inclinations  in  some  degree  subservient  to 
good,  and  the  fallacies  of  his  senses  to  truth.  Evil 
spirits  then  have  dominion  over  him,  and  angels 
only  avert  their  influence. 

"When,  however,  he  becomes  regenerate,  the  angels 
have  dominion,  and  inspire  him  with  what  is  good 
and  true,  infusing  at  the  same  time  a  fear  and  dread 
of  what  is  evil  and  false.  The  angels,  indeed,  guide 
him ;  but  in  this  they  are  only  ministers  of  the  Lord 
who  alone  govern  him  through  their  instrumentality 
and  that  of  spirits.  .  .  The  angels  themselves  likewise 
18*  O 


210  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


confess  that  they  have  no  power  of  their  own,  but 
act  from  the  Lord  alone."    (A.  C,  n.  50.) 

"  In  general,  angels  of  every  society  are  sent  to 
men,  that  they  may  guard  them,  and  withdraw  them 
from  evil  affections  and  consequent  evil  thoughts, 
and  inspire  them  with  good  affections  so  far  as  they 
can  freely  receive  them.  By  means  of  these  affections 
also  they  rule  the  actions  or  works  of  men,  removing 
from  them  evil  intentions  as  far  as  possible.  When 
angels  are  with  a  man,  they  have,  as  it  were,  their 
dwelling-place  in  his  affections ;  and  they  are  near 
him  in  proportion  as  he  is  in  good  derived  from 
truths ;  but  more  remote  in  proportion  as  his  life  is 
remote  from  good."  (H.  H.,  n.  391.  Also  A.  C,  n. 
5847-5866,  5976-5993.  8865.) 

CHANNING. — "  Another  view  of  heaven  which 
seems  to  me  to  weaken  its  interest,  is  this  :  —  its  in- 
habitants are  often  described  as  forming  a  world  by 
themselves,  as  having  no  connection  with  any  other 
beings.  Heaven  seems  to  be  considered  as  a  region 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  universe.  .  .  But  we 
ought  not  to  conceive  thus  of  the  future  state  of 
good  men.  We  need  not  doubt  the  fact  that  angels 
whose  home  is  heaven,  visit  our  earth  and  bear  a 
part  in  our  transactions."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  20.) 

"  They  [our  departed  and  virtuous  friends]  love  us 
more  than  ever,  but  with  a  refined  and  spiritual  love. 
They  have  now  but  one  wish  for  us,  that  we  may  fit 


M7NISTR  Y  OF  ANGELS. 


211 


ourselves  to  join  them  in  their  mansions  of  benevo- 
lence and  piety.  Their  spiritual  vision  penetrates  to 
our  souls.  Could  we  hear  their  voice,  it  would  not 
be  an  utterance  of  personal  attachment,  so  much  as 
a  quickening  call  to  greater  effort,  to  more  resolute 
self-denial,  to  a  wider  charity,  to  a  meeker  endurance, 
a  more  filial  obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  .  .  They 
are  breathing  now  an  atmosphere  of  divine  benevo- 
lence. They  are  charged  with  a  higher  mission 
than  when  they  trod  the  earth."  ( Works,  Vol.  IV., 
p.  229.) 

"  In  regard  to  the  methods  in  which  Christians  in 
the  spiritual  world  manifest  their  affections  towards 
Christians  on  earth,  —  in  regard  to  the  services  and 
assistances  they  render,  —  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
speak.  .  .  But  there  is  one  office  by  which  the  risen 
and  glorified  hold  an  active,  beneficent  connection 
with  the  Church  on  earth,  of  which  we  cannot 
doubt.  .  .  With  the  privilege  of  nearer  access  to  God 
than  they  could  enjoy  in  the  body,  —  can  we  question 
that  in  their  petitions  they  remember  their  tempted 
brethren  who  are  fighting  that  fight,  of  which  by 
experience  they  know  the  toil  and  pain?"  (The 
Perfect  Life,  p.  299.) 

"  To  suppose  them  forgetful  of  the  world  where 
they  began  to  live,  is  to  make  that  life  worthless, 
and  to  blot  out  a  volume  of  invaluable  experi- 
ence. To  think  of  them  as  regarding  this  world 
with  indifference,  when  it  was  the  scene  of  their 


212 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


Master's  life,  and  still  bears  the  impress  of  his  foot- 
steps, when  it  is  associated  so  intimately  with  the 
manifestation  of  his  character,  and  is  the  object  of 
his  perpetual  care,  is  to  make  them  dead  to  his 
glorious  design  of  good."    (Ibid.,  pp.  297,  '8.) 


XLVI. 

NO  HOMESICKNESS  IN  HE  A  VEN. 

SWEDENBORG.  — "In  heaven  no  other  consan- 
guinities or  affinities  exist  than  those  of  love  to 
the  Lord  and  the  neighbor,  or  what  is  the  same, 
than  those  of  good.  This  was  made  plain  to  me 
from  the  fact,  that  all  the  innumerable  societies  which 
constitute  heaven,  are  most  distinct  from  each  other 
according  to  the  kinds  and  degrees  of  love,  and  of 
faith  thence  derived  ;  also  from  this,  that  they  know 
each  other  there,  not  from  any  affinity  which  had 
existed  in  the  life  of  the  body,  but  solely  from  the 
principle  of  good,  and  of  truth  thence  derived.  A 
father  does  not  know  a  son  or  a  daughter;  nor  a 
brother,  a  brother  or  sister;  nor  indeed  a  husband, 
a  wife  ;  unless  they  have  been  in  similar  good.  They 
meet,  indeed,  [and  recognize  each  other]  on  their 
first  entrance  into  the  other  life,  but  are  soon  dis- 
sociated ;  for  essential  good,  or  love  and  charity,  is 
what  determines  every  one  to  his  particular  society 


NO  HOMESICKNESS  IN  HEAVEN.  213 


and  enrols  him  in  it.  In  the  society  in  which  he  is 
enrolled,  consanguinity  commences,  and  thence  pro- 
ceed the  affinities."    (A.  C,  n.  3815.) 

"All  in  heaven  are  associated  according  to  spirit- 
ual affinities  which  are  those  of  good  and  truth  in 
their  order.  Hence  it  is  that  the  angels  who  are 
in  similar  good  and  truth,  know  each  other  like 
those  on  earth  who  are  related  by  consanguinity 
and  affinity,  just  as  if  they  had  been  acquainted 
from  their  infancy."    (H.  H.,  n.  205.) 

"All  who  are  in  similar  good  know  each  other  — 
although  they  had  never  met  before — just  as  men 
in  the  world  know  their  kindred,  relations  and 
friends.  The  reason  is,  that  in  the  other  life  there 
are  no  kindreds,  relationships  or  friendships  but 
such  as  are  spiritual,  that  is,  of  love  and  faith.  T 
have  been  permitted  to  see  this  several  times  whm 
I  have  been  in  the  spirit,  and  thus  in  company  with 
the  angels.  On  such  occasions  I  have  seen  some 
who  seemed  as  if  I  had  known  them  from  infancy ; 
but  others  seemed  wholly  unknown  to  me.  They 
who  seemed  as  if  known  from  infancy,  were  those 
who  were  in  a  state  similar  to  that  of  my  own 
spirit ;  but  they  who  were  unknown,  were  in  a 
state  dissimilar  to  mine."    (H.  H.,  n.  46.) 

"  The  goods  and  truths  pertaining  to  a  man 
mutually  love  each  other,  and  according  to  love 
acknowledge,  and  thus  consociate  with,  each  other. 
This  originates  in  the  angelic  societies,  where  they 


214  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNWG. 


love,  acknowledge,  and  consociate  with,  each  other 
according  to  the  similitudes  and  proximities  of 
goods.  And  what  is  wonderful,  they  who  had 
never  seen  each  other  before,  if  they  are  in  simi- 
lar good,  when  they  meet,  it  is  as  if  they  had  seen 
each  other  from  infancy."    (A.  C,  n.  9079.) 

CHANNING. — "  Our  friends  who  leave  us  for  that 
world,  do  not  find  themselves  cast  among  strangers. 
No  desolate  feeling  springs  up  of  having  exchanged 
their  home  for  a  foreign  country.  The  tenderest 
accents  of  human  friendship  never  approached  in 
affectionateness  the  voice  of  congratulation,  which 
bids  them  welcome  to  their  new  and  everlasting 
abode.  In  that  world,  where  minds  have  surer 
means  of  revealing  themselves  than  here,  the  newly 
arrived  immediately  see  and  feel  themselves  encom- 
passed with  virtue  and  goodness ;  and  through  this 
insight  into  the  congenial  spirits  which  surround 
them,  intimacies  stronger  than  years  can  cement 
on  earth,  may  be  created  in  a  moment.  .  .  The 
closest  attachments  of  this  life  are  cold,  distant, 
stranger-like,  compared  with  theirs."  (Works,  Vol. 
IV.,  pp.  231, '2.) 


GOVERNMENT  IN  HEAVEN. 


215 


XLVIL 

GOVERNMENT  IN  HEAVEN. 

SWEDENBORG.— "In  heaven  they  think  and  dis- 
course about  such  things  as  pertain  to  wisdom. 
In  their  discourse,  however,  there  is  nothing  of 
command;  for  no  one  desires  to  lord  it  over  an- 
other, or  to  regard  him  as  a  servant,  but  every  one 
wishes  to  minister  and  serve.  Hence  the  nature  of 
the  government  in  heaven  is  evident.  It  is  described 
by  the  Lord  in  Matthew :  '  Whosoever  will  be  great 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister;  and  whoso- 
ever will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  ser- 
vant,' xx.  26,  27.  Which  precept  is  obeyed  by  him 
who  from  the  heart  loves  his  neighbor,  or  who  is 
sensible  of  delight  and  blessedness  in  doing  good  to 
others  regardless  of  himself."    (A.  C,  n.  5732.) 

"  The  government  of  mutual  love  is  the  only  kind 
of  government  in  heaven  ;  and  this  is  heavenly  gov- 
ernment. .  .  All  the  forms  of  government  there  agree 
in  this,  that  they  regard  the  general  good  as  their 
end,  and  in  this  the  good  of  every  individual.  This 
results  from  the  fact,  that  all  in  the  whole  heaven 
are  under  the  auspices  of  the  Lord,  who  loves  all, 
and  from  divine  love  ordains  that  every  individual 
shall  receive  good  in  proportion  as  he  loves  the 
common  good.    For  so  far  as  any  one  loves  the 


2l6  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


community,  he  loves  all  the  individuals  who  com- 
pose it ;  and  since  this  is  the  Lord's  love,  therefore 
he  is  so  far  loved  by  the  Lord,  and  good  results  to 
himself."    (H.  H.,  n.  213,  '17.) 

CHANNING. — "Jesus  will  indeed  reign  in  heav- 
en, as  he  reigned  on  earth.  .  .  His  reign  is  not  the 
vulgar  dominion  of  this  world.  It  is  the  empire  of 
a  great,  God-like,  disinterested  Being,  over  minds 
capable  of  comprehending  and  loving  Him.  In 
heaven,  nothing  like  what  we  call  government  on 
earth  can  exist,  for  government  here  is  founded  in 
human  weakness  and  guilt.  The  voice  of  command 
is  never  heard  among  the  spirits  of  the  just.  Even 
on  earth  the  most  perfect  government  is  that  of  a 
family,  where  parents  employ  no  tone  but  that  of 
affectionate  counsel,  where  filial  affection  reads  its 
duty  in  the  mild  look,  and  finds  its  law  and  motive 
in  its  own  pure  impulse."    {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  223.) 


THE  SOCIAL  ECONOMY  OF  HEAVEN.       21 7 


XLVIII. 

THE  SOCIAL  ECONOMY  OF  HEAVEN. 

SWEDENBORG.  — "The  angels  do  not  all  dwell 
together  in  one  place,  but  are  distinguished  into 
larger  and  smaller  societies  according  to  the  differ- 
ences of  the  good  of  love  and  faith  in  which  they 
are.  They  who  are  in  similar  good  form  one  so- 
ciety. .  .  The  larger  societies  consist  of  myriads  of 
angels,  the  smaller  of  some  thousands,  and  the  least 
of  some  hundreds.  .  .  Those  of  like  character  are 
brought  together  as  it  were  spontaneously ;  for  with 
their  like  they  are  as  with  their  own,  and  at  home ; 
but  with  others  they  are  as  with  strangers  and 
abroad.  When  they  are  with  their  like,  they  are 
also  in  their  freedom,  and  thence  in  every  delight  of 
life."    (H.  H.,  n.  41,  44,  50.) 

"  In  heaven  they  have  the  most  delightful  social 
gatherings  which  exhilarate  the  minds  of  the  angels, 
enliven  their  spirits,  rejoice  their  bosoms  and  afford 
recreation  to  their  bodies ;  but  these  they  do  not 
have  until  after  they  have  performed  the  uses  in 
their  respective  offices ;  for  the  life  and  soul  of  all 
their  pleasures  and  joys,  are  from  these  uses."  (T. 
C.  R.,  n.  734.) 

"  It  is  the  Lord's  will  that  all  good  things  should 
be  communicable,  and  that  all  should  be  mutually 
19 


2l8  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHAINING. 


affected  by  love,  and  so  be  happy.  .  .  So  completely 
do  they  communicate  to  one  another  their  affec- 
tions, thoughts,  and  also  their  knowledge,  in  the 
other  life,  that  one  spirit  thinks  he  knows  whatever 
another  does,  although  he  had  previously  no  ac- 
quaintance with  such  subjects.  Thus  [in  heaven] 
all  the  attainments  of  one  are  communicated  to 
others."    (A.  C,  n.  1388,  '90.) 

CHANNING.  —  "Another  error  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  heaven,  which  I  think  renders  it  less  inter- 
esting, is,  that  the  thought  of  society  is  thrown  too 
much  out  of  sight.  Now  human  nature  is  essentially 
social.  It  wants  objects  of  affection,  companions  to 
whom  it  may  communicate  its  thoughts  and  pur- 
poses, and  with  whom  it  may  act  and  enjoy.  Pleas- 
ure is  tasteless  without  friendly  participation,  and 
every  view  of  heaven  excluding  this,  is  unfavorable 
to  an  impression  of  its  happiness.  We  are  too  apt 
to  think  of  heaven  as  a  solemn  place.  It  ought  to 
be  viewed  by  us  as  a  place  of  cheerful  society.  The 
countenances  of  its  inhabitants  should  seem  to  us 
irradiated  by  a  benign  smile  in  their  intercourse 
with  one  another."  {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  19.) 
"  Perfect  social  happiness  is  reserved  for  a  higher 
stage  of  existence."  (Ibid.,  p.  36.)  "  Heaven  is 
the  union,  the  society  of  spiritual,  higher  beings." 
{Works,  Vol.  IV,  p.  228.) 


VARIETY  IN  HEAVEN. 


2IQ 


XLIX. 

VARIETY  IN  HEAVEN. 

SWEDENBORG.— "  Heaven  is  a  whole  composed 
of  various  parts  arranged  in  the  most  perfect 
form ;  for  the  heavenly  form  is  the  most  perfect 
of  all  forms.  That  all  perfection  results  from  this 
harmonious  arrangement  of  parts  that  are  different, 
is  evident  from  all  the  beauty,  pleasantness  and  de- 
light which  affect  both  the  senses  and  the  mind ; 
for  these  exist  and  flow  from  no  other  source  than 
from  the  concert  and  harmony  of  many  concor- 
dant and  sympathizing  parts." — "  Heaven  also  exists 
wherever  the  Lord  is  acknowledged,  believed  in  and 
loved.  Variety  in  the  worship  of  Him,  arising  from 
the  variety  of  good  in  different  societies,  is  not  inju- 
rious but  advantageous;  for  the  perfection  of  heaven 
results  from  such  variety."    (H.  H.,  n.,56.) 

"  Good  in  heaven  is  so  manifold  and  various,  that 
in  no  single  instance  is  one  angel  in  like  good  with 
another;  yea,  if  myriads  of  myriads  should  be  mul- 
tiplied to  eternity,  the  good  of  one  would  not  be 
like  that  of  another;  just  as  the  face  of  one  is  never 
exactly  like  that  of  another.  Good  also  in  heaven 
forms  the  faces  of  the  angels.  .  . 

"  There  is  no  instance  in  nature  of  one  thing 
being  in  every  respect  like  another.    What  makes 


220  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


good  in  heaven  so  various,  is  truth ;  for  this,  when 
conjoined  to  good,  qualifies  it.  The  reason  why 
truth  is  so  manifold  and  various  that  it  can  commu- 
nicate so  great  a  variety  to  good,  is,  that  truths  are 
innumerable,  and  interior  truths  are  in  a  form  differ- 
ent from  that  of  exterior  truths.  .  .  What  then  may 
we  suppose  to  be  the  case  arising  from  thousands 
and  myriads  of  varieties,  as  are  the  varieties  of 
truth  !  "    (A.  C,  n.  7236.) 

"  In  heaven  there  are  endless  varieties ;  yet  they 
are  all  arranged  into  such  a  form,  that  together  they 
make  a  unit ;  just  as  with  the  varieties  in  the  human 
body,  where  no  member  is  exactly  like  another; 
yet  all  the  various  parts  are  arranged  into  such  a 
form  that  they  act  as  a  unit,  each  concurring  more 
or  less  directly  in  the  action  of  the  other."  (A.  C, 
n.  5598.) 

CHANNING.  — "  It  seems  to  be  thought,  that, 
because  good,  men  are  to  be  perfect  hereafter,  they 
will  all  resemble  each  other;  and  hence  that  di- 
versity of  character,  of  tastes  and  of  habits,  which 
contributes  so  much  to  our  happiness,  is  made  to 
give  place  to  a  monotonous  and  unvaried  excel- 
lence. But  all  God's  works  are  marked  by  variety, 
and  to  this  they  owe  much  of  their  interest  and 
beauty.  Will  all  this  variety  be  blotted  out  in 
heaven  ? 

"  No  one  who  reflects  that  this  life  is  a  prepara- 


VARIETY  IN  HEAVEN. 


221 


tory  state,  can  doubt  that  our  future  character  will 
be  a  continuation  of  the  present, —  that,  if  we  enter 
heaven,  we  shall  carry  with  us  essentially  the  same 
minds  which  we  possess  on  leaving  the  world ;  and 
thus  all  the  peculiarities  of  earth  which  are  con- 
sistent with  goodness,  will  be  transplanted  in  the 
future  state.  The  Scriptures  teach  us  that  it  will 
be  part  of  the  happiness  of  heaven  to  meet  there 
the  good  and  excellent  of  former  times, —  the  patri- 
archs and  prophets  and  apostles,  and  other  bene- 
factors of  mankind.  But  this  happiness  would  be 
wholly  lost,  were  men  in  heaven  to  lose  their  pecu- 
liar characters,  were  all  to  be  cast  into  one  mould, 
were  all,  in  becoming  perfect,  to  become  perfectly 
alike.  No, —  heaven  will  not  present  this  unvaried 
and  dull  uniformity.  The  strong  lines  of  character 
which  marked  men  on  earth,  we  may  suppose,  will 
distinguish  them  hereafter.  .  .  In  heaven  we  shall 
witness  every  form  of  intellectual  and  moral  excel- 
lence. Some  of  its  inhabitants  will  exhibit  to  us 
the  milder,  and  others  the  sublimer  virtues.  Some 
will  be  distinguished  by  glow  of  feeling,  some  by 
profoundness  of  thought,  some  by  activity  and 
energy  of  will.  There  will  be,  too,  different  degrees 
of  the  same  excellence,  and  different  employments 
corresponding  to  tht  character."  {Memoirs,  Vol.  II., 
pp.  21, '2.) 
19* 


222  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


L. 

HEAVEN  A  LIFE  OF  ACTIVE  USEFULNESS. 

SWEDENBORG.  — "  Some  believe  that  heaven 
consists  in  leading  an  indolent  life,  and  in  being 
waited  upon  by  others.  But  they  are  told  that 
happiness  does  by  no  means  consist  in  a  state  of 
idleness  and  rest;  for  if  it  did,  every  one  would 
desire  happiness  for  himself  alone,  in  which  case 
none  would  possess  it.  Moreover,  in  such  an  in- 
active, idle  life,  they  would  become  torpid, —  though 
every  one  knows  that  there  can  be  no  happiness 
without  activity  of  life.  The  angelic  life  consists 
in  deeds  of  use  and  the  goods  of  charity.  For 
nothing,  is  more  delightful  to  the  angels  than  to 
instruct  and  guide  spirits  coming  from  the  world, 
—  to  serve  mankind  by  inspiring  them  with  what 
is  good,  and  by  restraining  the  evil  spirits  attend- 
ant on  them  from  passing  their  proper  bounds, — 
to  raise  up  the  dead  to  eternal  life,  and  afterwards 
(if  their  souls  be  of  such  a  character  as  to  render  it 
possible)  to  introduce  them  into  heaven.  Angelic 
happiness,  then,  is  in  use,  from  use,  and  according 
to  use ;  or,  in  other  words,  it  ^s  according  to  the 
goods  of  love  and  charity.  Those  who  entertained 
the  idea  that  heavenly  joy  consists  in  indolence  and 
in  idly  quaffing  eternal  delight,  were  (for  the  pur- 


HEAVEN  A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS.  223 


pose  of  making  them  ashamed  of  such  notions)  led 
to  experience  the  nature  of  such  kind  of  life.  And 
they  perceived  that  it  is  most  thoroughly  sorrowful; 
for,  being  destructive  of  every  delight,  it  soon  be- 
comes irksome  and  disgusting."    (A.  C,  n.  454.) 

"  Certain  learned  spirits  could  form  no  idea  of 
delight,  but  rather  of  slavery,  as  consisting  in  the 
performance  of  charitable  deeds.  Nevertheless  the 
angels  testified  that  such  good  offices  are  consistent 
with  the  most  perfect  freedom,  and  attended  with  in- 
expressible felicity."    (Ibid.,  n.  456.) 

"  Every  one  in  heaven  is  recompensed  according 
to  the  excellence  of  the  use  he  performs,  and  at  the 
same  time  according  to  his  love  of  use.  No  idle 
person  is  tolerated  there,  no  slothful  vagabond,  no 
indolent  boaster  of  others'  studies  and  labors ;  but 
every  one  must  be  industrious,  skillful,  attentive  and 
diligent  in  his  own  office  and  employment,  and  must 
place  honor  and  reward  not  in  the  first  but  in  the 
second  or  third  place.  According  to  these  condi- 
tions there  is  an  influx  among  the  denizens  of  heaven 
of  the  necessary,  the  useful  and  the  delightful  things 
of  life."    (D.  L.,  §  xii.  in  Ap.  Ex.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  353.) 

CHANNING. — "  We  must  never  think  of  heaven 
as  a  state  of  inactive  contemplation  or  of  unproduc- 
tive feeling.  Even  here  on  earth  the  influence  of 
Christ's  character  is  seen  in  awakening  an  active, 
self-sacrificing  goodness.    It  sends  the  true  disciples 


224  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


to  the  abodes  of  the  suffering.  It  binds  them  by 
new  ties  to  their  race.  It  gives  them  a  new  con- 
sciousness of  being  created  for  a  ministry  of  benefi- 
cence ;  and  can  they,  when  they  approach  more 
nearly  this  divine  Philanthropist,  and  learn  by  a 
new  alliance  with  Him  the  fulness  of  his  love  — 
can  they  fail  to  consecrate  themselves  to  his  work 
and  to  kindred  labors,  with  an  energy  of  will  un- 
known on  earth?  "    {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  225.) 

"  It  would  be  wrong  to  imagine  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  heaven  only  converse.  They  who  reach 
that  world,  enter  on  a  state  of  action,  life,  effort. 
We  are  apt  to  think  of  the  future  world  as  so  happy 
that  none  need  the  aid  of  others,  that  effort  ceases, 
that  the  good  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  enjoy.  The 
truth  is,  that  all  action  on  earth,  even  the  intensest, 
is  but  the  sport  of  childhood,  compared  with  the 
energy  and  activity  of  that  higher  life.  It  must  be 
so.  For  what  principles  are  so  active  as  intellect, 
benevolence,  the  love  of  truth,  the  thirst  for  per- 
fection, sympathy  with  the  suffering,  and  devotion 
to  God's  purposes  ?  And  these  are  the  ever-expand- 
ing principles  of  the  future  life."    (Ibid.,  p.  233.) 


CEASELESS  PROGRESS  IN  HEAVEN.  22$ 


LI. 

CEASELESS  PROGRESS  IN  HEAVEN. 

SWEDENBORG.  — "  The  angels  are  being  con- 
tinually advanced  to  greater  and  still  greater  per- 
fection by  the  Lord ;  and  yet  they  can  never  by  any 
possibility  be  perfected  to  such  a  degree  that  their 
wisdom  and  intelligence  may  admit  of  comparison 
with  the  divine  wisdom  and  intelligence  of  the  Lord; 
for  they  are  finite  and  the  Lord  is  infinite,  and  the 
finite  admits  of  no  comparison  with  the  infinite." 
(A.  C,  n.  4295.) 

"  There  is  no  determinate  period  during  a  man's 
regeneration  at  which  he  may  say,  I  am  now  perfect ; 
for  there  are  endless  states  of  evil  and  the  false  in 
every  man,  all  of  which  must  be  so  entirely  put  off 
as  no  longer  to  appear.  In  some  states  a  man  may 
be  said  to  be  more  perfect  [than  in  others].  Those, 
however,  who  are  regenerated  in  the  life  of  the  body, 
and  who  have  lived  in  faith  towards  the  Lord  and 
charity  towards  their  neighbor,  are  being  continually 
perfected  in  the  other  life."    (Ibid.,  n.  894.) 

"  Regeneration  or  the  implantation  of  the  life  of 
heaven  in  man  commences  from  his  infancy  and 
continues  even  to  the  latest  period  of  his  life  in  the 
world ;  and  after  his  life  in  the  world  it  is  forever 
becoming  more  and  more  perfect;  and,  what  is  a 
P 


226  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


secret,  the  regeneration  of  man  in  the  world  is  only 
a  plane  for  the  perfecting  of  his  life  to  eternity." 
(A.  C,  n.  9334.    See  also  n.  5122,  5398.) 

CHANNING. — "Heaven  is  sometimes  described 
in  a  manner  which  excludes  the  idea  of  improvement, 
of  progression.  The  thought  of  a  stationary  exist- 
ence, of  remaining  the  same  through  eternity,  of  a 
world  where  the  mind,  as  it  looks  forward  to  endless 
ages,  will  see  no  change,  no  progressive  ascent  to 
superior  virtue,  is  a  most  discouraging  and  melan- 
choly one.  .  .  Such  conceptions  of  heaven  are  alto- 
gether inconsistent  with  what  we  know  of  the  facul- 
ties of  the  human  understanding,  which  seem  capable 
of  indefinite  progression,  and  with  what  we  see  of 
the  works  of  God,  which  teach  us  that  He  delights 
in  a  progressive  creation.  We  ought  rather  to  con- 
ceive of  heaven  as  a  state  which  will  offer  far  greater 
means  of  improvement  than  the  present."  {Memoirs, 
Vol.  II.,  p.  19.) 

"  In  this  life  progression  is  the  universal  law. 
Nothing  is  brought  into  being  in  its  most  perfect 
state.  Everything  rises  to  maturity  from  feeble  be- 
ginnings. The  all-wise  Creator  delights  in  a  pro- 
gressive system,  in  gradual  improvement,  not  in  im- 
mediate perfection.  It  is  his  uniform  method  to 
conduct  beings  through  various  stages,  not  to  fix 
them  at  once  in  an  unchangeable  condition.  Now, 
such  being  the  method  of  Providence,  and  such  the 


HEAVEN  A  BLISSFUL  COMMUNION.  22J 


nature  and  experience  of  man,  is  it  not  natural  to 
expect  that  in  a  future  life  our  nature  will  be  pro- 
gressive ?  .  .  .  And  when  we  consider  that  this  pro- 
gression will  be  eternal,  will  never  end,  what  an 
astonishing  conception  is  given  us  of  the  future 
greatness  of  man  ! "    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  23.) 


^  munication  of  all  things,  —  the  intelligence  and 
wisdom  of  one  being  communicated  to  another. 
Heaven  is  a  communion  of  all  good  things,  because 
heavenly  love  desires  that  what  is  its  own  should  be 
another's.  Consequently  no  one  in  heaven  perceives 
his  own  good  in  himself  as  good,  unless  it  be  also 
in  another.  Thence,  too,  is  the  happiness  of  heaven. 
The  angels  derive  from  the  Lord  this  disposition  to 
communicate,  for  such  is  the  nature  of  the  Divine 
Love.  That  there  is  such  communication  in  the 
heavens,  I  have  also  been  permitted  to  know  from 
experience."    (H.  H.,  n.  268.) 

"The  angelic  state  is  such  that  every  one  com- 
municates his  own  blessedness  and  happiness  to 
another.  For  in  the  other  life  there  is  given  a 
communication  and   most  exquisite  perception  of 


LII. 


HEA  VEN  A  BLISSFUL  COMMUNION. 


heaven  there  is  a  com- 


228  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


affections  and  thoughts,  in  consequence  of  which 
every  individual  communicates  his  joy  to  all  others, 
and  all  others  to  every  individual ;  so  that  each  one 
is,  as  it  were,  the  centre  of  all,  which  is  the  heavenly 
form.  Therefore  as  the  number  of  those  who  con- 
stitute the  Lord's  kingdom  is  increased,  so  much 
greater  is  their  happiness;  and  hence  it  is  that  the 
happiness  of  heaven  is  ineffable.  Such  is  the  com- 
munication of  all  with  each  and  of  each  with  all, 
when  one  loves  another  better  than  himself.  But 
should  any  one  wish  better  to  himself  than  to  an- 
other, then  the  love  of  self  prevails,  which  commu- 
nicates nothing  from  itself  to  another  but  the  idea 
of  self,  and  this  idea  is  most  impure  and  loathsome." 
(A.  C,  n.  549.) 

CHANNING. —  "  If  we  have  ever  known  the  en- 
joyments of  friendship,  of  entire  confidence,  of  coop- 
eration in  honorable  and  successful  labors  with  those 
we  love,  we  can  comprehend  something  of  the  fe- 
licity of  a  world  where  souls  refined  from  selfishness, 
open  as  the  day,  thirsting  for  new  truth  and  virtue, 
endued  with  new  power  of  enjoying  the  beauty  and 
grandeur  of  the  universe,  allied  in  the  noblest  works 
of  benevolence,  communicate  themselves  to  one 
another  with  the  freedom  of  perfect  love.  .  .  How 
they  communicate  themselves,  by  what  language  or 
organs,  we  know  not.  But  this  we  know,  that  in 
the  progress  of  the  mind,  its  power  of  imparting 


POWERS  AND  WISDOM  ENLARGED.  22Q 

itself  must  improve.  .  .  After  all,  how  little  can  our 
present  experience  help  us  to  understand  the  inter- 
course of  heaven,  a  communion  marred  by  no  pas- 
sion, chilled  by  no  reserve,  depressed  by  no  con- 
sciousness of  sin,  trustful  as  childhood,  and  overflow- 
ing with  innocent  joy."  {Works ,V o\.  IV.,  pp.  232/3.) 


ENLARGED   POWERS  AND    WISDOM  OF  THE 
ANGELS. 


^  light  of  heaven,  which  in  its  essence  is  divine 
truth  or  wisdom."  — "  The)'  also  dwell  in  the  heat 
of  heaven,  which  in  its  essence  is  divine  heat  or 
love,  from  which  they  derive  the  desire  of  becom- 
ing wise."  —  "  They  are  in  wisdom  to  such  a  degree 
that  they  may  be  called  wisdoms."  —  "Their  speech 
is  the  speech  of  wisdom,  flowing  immediately  and 
spontaneously  from  thought  as  thought  flows  from 
affection."  —  "All  the  things  that  they  see  around 
them  and  perceive  by  their  senses,  are  in  agree- 
ment with  their  wisdom,  because  they  are  corre- 
spondences, that  is,  forms  representative  of  the 
things  belonging  to  wisdom  [such  as  flowers,  trees, 
gardens,  groves,  palaces,  etc.,  of  indescribable  beauty 
and  magnificence]."  —  "Their  thoughts  are  not  con- 


LIII. 


angels  dwell   in  the 


23O  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


fined  by  ideas  derived  from  space  and  time,  like  the 
thoughts  of  men."  —  "Neither  are  they  drawn  down- 
ward to  things  terrestrial  and  material,  nor  inter- 
rupted by  cares  about  the  necessaries  of  life."  — 
"  Their  wisdom,  in  comparison  with  human  wisdom, 
is  as  a  myriad  to  one,  comparatively  as  the  thousand 
things  belonging  to  any  object  as  seen  through  a 
perfect  microscope,  is  to  the  one  obscure  thing  which 
it  appears  to  the  naked  eye."  —  "The  primary  reason 
why  the  angels  are  capable  of  receiving  such  exalted 
wisdom,  is,  that  they  are  free  from  the  love  of  self ; 
for  in  proportion  as  any  one  is  free  from  this  love, 
he  is  capable  of  becoming  wise  in  things  divine.  It 
is  this  love  which  closes  the  interiors  against  the 
Lord  and  heaven.  But  the  heavenly  loves  in  which 
the  angels  are,  which  are  love  to  the  Lord  and  the 
neighbor,  open  their  interiors;  for  these  loves  are 
from  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  Himself  is  in  them." — 
"  The  angels  are  forever  advancing  towards  perfec- 
tion, because  wisdom  perfects  them  and  constitutes 
their  life.  Therefore  all  in  heaven  desire  wisdom, 
and  long  for  it  as  a  hungry  man  longs  for  food." 
(H.  Hi,  n.  266-274.) 

"  In  heaven  the  light  and  heat  which  proceed 
from  the  Lord  as  a  sun,  are  distinguished  into 
degrees  [continuous  and  discrete].  Therefore  the 
light  in  the  third  heaven  is  so  refulgent,  and  that 
in  the  second  heaven  is  so  bright,  as  to  exceed  a 
thousand  times  the  mid-day  light  of  the  world.  In 


POWERS  AND  WISDOM  ENLARGED.        23 1 

like  manner  the  wisdom  ;  for  in  the  spiritual  world 
light  and  wisdom  are  in  a  like  degree  of  perfection. 
Therefore  the  degrees  of  affection  there  are  similar; 
and  because  these  are  similar,  so  too  are  the  degrees 
of  uses,  for  the  subjects  of  affections  are  uses."  (D. 
L..  §  xi.  in  Ap.  Ex.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  352.) 

CHANNING.  — "  Among  the  chief  wonders  and 
glories  which  the  future  world  is  to  disclose  to  us, 
will  be  the  enlarged  powers,  relations  and  influences 
of  virtuous  beings.  Let  us  not  imagine  that  the 
usefulness  of  the  good  is  finished  at  death.  Then 
rather  does  it  begin.  Let  us  not  judge  of  their  state 
by  associations  drawn  from  the  chilliness  and  silence 
of  the  grave.  They  have  gone  to  abodes  of  life,  of 
warmth,  of  action.  They  have  gone  to  fill  a  larger 
place  in  the  system  of  God.  Death  has  expanded 
their  powers.  The  clogs  and  fetters  of  the  perish- 
able body  [that  is,  the  limitations  of  time  and  space] 
have  fallen  off.  .  .  We  should  represent  them  to  our 
minds  as  ascended  to  a  higher  rank  of  existence, 
and  admitted  to  cooperate  with  far  higher  communi- 
ties. This  earth  was  only  their  school,  their  place 
of  education,  where  we  saw  their  powers  compara 
tively  in  an  infant  state.  They  have  now  reached  a 
maturer  age,  and  are  gone  to  sustain  more  impor 
tant  relations.  They  have  been  called  because  their 
agency  was  needed  in  higher  services  than  those  of 
this  world  [and  higher  services  imply  and  require 


232  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


correspondingly  higher  wisdom].  .  .  They  are  more 
usefully,  more  honorably  occupied,  than  when  on 
earth."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  27,  '8.) 

"  When  we  think  of  the  good  and  holy  who  have 
left  us,  we  should  banish  from  our  thoughts  all 
gloomy  images  which  death  presents.  They  should 
rise  before  our  minds,  improved,  perfected,  clothed 
with  a  new  lustre  of  goodness.  We  should  think 
of  them  as  ascended  to  a  purer  region.  The  counte- 
nance on  which  we  were  accustomed  to  see  the  ex- 
pression of  all  kind  affections,  should  shine  upon 
us  brightened  with  a  more  benignant  smile.  Their 
piety  should  appear  as  raised,  refined,  and  kindled 
into  purer  ardor  by  its  near  approach  to  God.  We 
should  see  them  surrounded  with  better  friends  and 
examples  than  those  they  have  left,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  purest  and  happiest  society."    (Ibid.,  p.  26.) 


LIV. 

FUTURE  RETRIBUTION. 

SWEDENBORG— "The  will  makes  the  man,  and 
the  thought  only  so  far  as  it  proceeds  from  the 
will." — "  It  is  his  ruling  love  that  remains  with  a 
man  after  death  ;  nor  is  this  ever  changed."  — 
"Those  things  are  then  removed  and,  as  it  were, 
taken  away  from  him,  which  do  not  agree  with  his 


FUTURE  RETRIBUTION. 


233 


ruling  love." — "  That  man  after  death  forever  re- 
mains such  as  he  is  in  respect  to  his  will  or  ruling 
love,  has  also  been  proved  by  abundant  experience. 
It  has  been  granted  me  to  converse  with  some  who 
lived  two  thousand  years  ago,  whose  lives  are  known 
because  described  in  history;  and  I  found  that  they 
still  retained  their  distinctive  characters,  and  were 
exactly  such  as  they  had  been  described ;  for  the 
quality  of  their  love,  from  and  according  to  which 
their  lives  were  formed,  remained  the  same." — "The 
angels  declare  that  it  were  easier  to  change  a  bat 
into  a  dove,  or  an  owl  into  a  bird  of  Paradise,  than 
an  infernal  spirit  into  an  angel  of  heaven."  (H.  H., 
n.  474,  '77,  '8o,  527.) 

"  Man  does  evil  from  hell  and  good  from  the 
Lord." — "  He  who  wills  and  loves  evil  in  the  world, 
wills  and  loves  the  same  evil  in  the  other  life. 
Hence  the  man  who  is  In  evil  is  tied  to  hell,  and 
is  actually  there  as  to  his  spirit;  and  after  death  he 
desires  nothing  more  than  to  be  where  his  own  evil 
is.  Therefore  man  after  death  casts  himself  into 
hell,  and  not  the  Lord."    (Ibid.,  n.  547.) 

"  Nothing  of  the  punishment  which  evil  spirits 
suffer  in  the  other  world,  is  from  the  Lord,  but 
from  evil  itself;  for  evil  is  so  connected  with  its 
own  punishment  that  they  cannot  be  separated." 
(Ibid.,  n.  550.) 

"  When  men  are  in  opposition  to  the  Divine,  and 
so  prevent  the  influx  of  love  and  mercy  into  them- 
20  * 


234  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


selves,  they  cast  themselves  into  the  evil  of  punish- 
ment, or  into  hell.  This  appears  like  unmercifulness 
and  revenge  from  the  Divine  on  account  of  the  evil 
they  have  done,  when  yet  nothing  of  the  sort  is 
in  the  Divine,  but  it  is  in  the  evil  itself."  (A.  C, 
n.  8483.)  • 

"  The  Divine  [Being]  permits  evil,  because  He 
cannot  hinder  nor  take  it  away.  For  the  Divine 
wills  nothing  but  good.  Therefore  if  He  hindered 
or  took  away  the  evil  of  punishments,  vastations,  per- 
secutions, temptations,  and  the  like,  He  would  will 
evil ;  and  then  there  would  be  no  amendment,  and 
evil  would  consequently  increase  until  it  had  the 
dominion  over  good.  Herein  the  case  would  be 
like  that  of  a  king  who  absolves  the  guilty :  in  so 
doing  he  is  the  cause  of  the  evil  afterwards  done 
by  them  in  the  kingdom,  and  also  the  cause  of 
licentiousness  thence  derived  to  others  ;  besides  that 
an  evil  person  would  be  confirmed  in  evil.  There- 
fore a  just  and  good  king,  although  he  has  the 
power  to  take  away  or  prevent  punishments,  still 
cannot  do  so  because  he  would  thereby  do  evil 
and  not  good.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  all  pun- 
ishments in  the  other  life  (and  temptations  [in  this] 
also)  have  good  for  their  end."    (A.  C,  n.  827.) 

"  Many  people  suppose  that  '  casting  into  hell ' 
means  the  casting  down  into  a  certain  place  contain- 
ing the  devil  with  his  crew,  who  there  inflict  tor- 
ment.  But  the  case  is  not  so ;  for  casting  into  heil  is 


FUTURE  RETRIBUTION. 


235 


nothing  but  a  closing  up  [of  the  interiors  or  heavens 
of  the  mind]  by  mere  falsities  originating  in  the  evil 
wherein  the  persons  were  principled  when  in  the 
world.  When  these  are  closed  up,  the  persons  are 
in  hell ;  and  the  evils  and  falsities  in  which  they 
then  are,  torment  them.  But  the  torment  does  not 
arise  from  the  circumstance  that  they  grieve  on  ac- 
count of  the  evil  they  have  done,  but  from  the  fact 
that  they  are  restrained  from  doing  evil,  this  being 
the  delight  of  their  life.  .  .  From  these  considerations 
it  may  be  clearly  seen  whence  hell  is  and  what  it  is. 
The  fire  of  hell  is  nothing  but  the  lust  inherent  in 
self-love  which  inflames  and  torments."  (A.  C,  n. 
8232.) 

CHANNING.  —  "  It  seems  to  me,  that  a  man  of 
common  understanding,  reading  the  Scriptures  with- 
out any  knowledge  of  the  way  in  which  they  have 
been  interpreted,  would  not  think  it  possible  that  the 
doctrine  should  ever  have  been  drawn  from  them  that 
there  is  to  be  no  future  punishment.  .  .  This  error 
should  be  resisted  with  earnestness,  because  it  di- 
rectly, palpably  and  without  disguise  diminishes  the 
restraints  on  vice.  It  is  at  war  with  society.  It  is  a 
blow  at  the  root  of  social  order.  It  lets  loose  those 
propensities  which  are  constantly  struggling  against 
the  principle  of  duty,  and  which  this  principle,  un- 
aided by  the  fear  of  future  suffering,  is  in  multitudes 
poorly  able  to  restrain.  .  .  Guilt  and  punishment  are 


236  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


seen  to  have  a  connection  too  natural  and  intimate 
to  be  wholly  separate  even  in  thought.  .  .  A  solemn 
darkness  hangs  over  the  prison-house  of  the  con- 
demned. One  thing  alone  is  certain,  that  we  shall 
suffer  greatly  hereafter  if  we  live  here  in  neglect  of 
God's  known  will.  .  .  That  there  will  be  a  limit  to 
future  punishment,  that  it  will  operate  to  reform  us, 
or  that  there  will  be  bounds  to  the  consequences  of 
unfortunate  guilt,  the  Scriptures  nowhere  declare.  .  . 
[The  Bible]  shows  us  the  wicked  banished  into  dark- 
ness. In  that  exile  it  leaves  them.  That  darkness 
hides  them  from  our  sight.  If  mercy  is  to  be  extended, 
it  is  mercy  to  be  revealed  hereafter."  {Memoirs,  Vol. 
II.,  pp.  24-26.) 

"  It  is  maintained  by  some  among  us,  that  punish- 
ment is  confined  to  the  present  state ;  that  in  chang- 
ing worlds,  we  shall  change  our  characters ;  that 
moral  evil  is  to  be  buried  with  the  body  in  the  grave. 
To  my  mind  a  more  irrational  doctrine  was  never 
broached.  It  contradicts  all  our  experience  of  the 
nature  and  laws  of  the  mind.  .  .  We  are  this  moment 
what  the  past  has  made  us ;  and  to  suppose  that  at 
death  the  influences  of  our  whole  past  course  are  to 
cease  on  our  minds,  and  that  a  character  is  to  spring 
up  altogether  at  war  with  what  has  preceded  it,  is 
to  suppose  the  most  important  law  or  principle  of 
the  mind  to  be  violated,  is  to  destroy  all  analogy 
between  the  present  and  future,  and  to  substitute  for 
experience  the  wildest  dreams  of  fancy.  .  .  Why  shaU 


FUTURE  RETRIBUTION. 


*17 


the  mind  put  on  a  new  character,  by  laying  aside 
the  gross  instruments  through  which  it  now  oper- 
ates ?  .  .  .  Lop  off  the  criminal's  hands  ;  does  the  dis- 
position to  do  mischief  vanish  with  them  ?  When 
the  feet  mortify,  do  we  see  a  corresponding  mortifi- 
cation of  the  will  to  go  astray  ?  The  loss  of  sight 
or  hearing  is  a  partial  death ;  but  is  a  single  vice 
plucked  from  the  mind,  or  one  of  its  strong  pas- 
sions palsied  by  this  destruction  of  its  chief  corporeal 
instruments?"    (Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  159,  *6o.) 

"  Let  us  not  listen  for  a  moment  to  a  doctrine  so 
irrational,  as  that  our  present  characters  do  not 
follow  us  into  a  future  world.  If  we  are  to  live 
again,  let  us  settle  it  as  a  sure  fact,  that  we  shall 
carry  with  us  our  present  minds,  such  as  we  now 
make  them  ;  that  we  shall  reap  good  or  ill  according 
to  their  improvement  or  corruption ;  and,  of  conse- 
quence, that  every  act  which  affects  character,  will 
reach  in  its  influence  beyond  the  grave,  and  have  a 
bearing  on  our  future  weal  or  woe." 

"  It  is  plainly  implied  in  Scripture,  that  we  shall 
suffer  much  more  from  sin,  evil  tempers,  irreligion, 
in  the  future  world,  than  we  suffer  here.  .  .  After 
death,  character  will  produce  its  full  effect.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Scriptures,  the  color  of  our  future 
existence  will  be  wholly  determined  by  the  habits 
and  principles  which  we  carry  into  it.  The  circum- 
stances which  in  this  life  prevent  vice,  sin,  wrong- 
doing, from  inflicting  pain,  will  not  operate  here- 


238  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


after.  There  the  evil  mind  will  be  exposed  to  its 
own  terrible  agency." 

"  One  and  only  one  evil  can  be  carried  from  this 
world  to  the  next,  and  that  is  the  evil  within  us, 
moral  evil,  guilt,  crime,  ungoverned  passion,  the 
depraved  mind,  the  memory  of  a  wasted  or  ill-spent 
life,  the  character  which  has  grown  up  under  neglect 
of  God's  voice  in  the  soul  and  in  his  Word.  This, 
this  will  go  with  us,  to  stamp  itself  on  our  future 
frames,  to  darken  our  future  being,  to  separate  us 
like  an  impassable  gulf  from  our  Creator,  and  from 
pure  and  happy  beings,  to  be  as  a  consuming  fire 
and  an  undying  worm."  {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  1 59— 
166.  The  same  teaching  to  be  found  also  in  The 
Perfect  Life) 


LV.  q 

CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE  INNER  AND 
OUTER  MAN  IN  THE  HEREAFTER. 

SWEDENBORG.  — "All  the  spirits  in  hell,  when 
viewed  in  any  degree  of  heavenly  light,  appear 
in  the  form  of  their  own  evil ;  for  every  one  there  is 
the  image  of  his  own  evil,  because  his  interiors  and 
exteriors  act  in  unity,  —  the  interiors  exhibiting 
themselves  visibly  in  the  exteriors,  which  are  the 
face,  the  body,  the  speech  and  the  gestures.  Thus 
their  character  is  known  as  soon  as  they  are  seen. 


CORRESPONDENCE  IN  THE  HEREAFTER.  2y) 


In  general  they  are  forms  of  contempt  of  others  ;  of 
menace  against  those  who  do  not  pay  them  respect ; 
of  hatred  of  various  kinds ;  also  of  various  kinds  of 
revenge.  Ferocity  and  cruelty  from  their  interiors 
are  clearly  visible  through  these  forms.  .  .  Their 
faces  are  hideous,  and  void  of  life  like  corpses ;  in 
some  cases  they  are  black ;  in  others  they  are  fiery 
like  little  torches  ;  in  others,  disfigured  with  pimples, 
warts  and  ulcers.  Their  bodies  also  are  monstrous  ; 
and  their  speech  is  like  the  speech  of  anger,  hatred, 
or  revenge,  —  for  every  one  speaks  from  his  own 
falsity,  and  in  a  tone  corresponding  to  his  own 
evil.  In  a  word,  they  are  all  images  of  their  own 
hell. 

"  It  is,  however,  to  be  observed  that  such  is  the 
appearance  of  infernal  spirits  when  seen  in  the  light 
of  heaven ;  but  among  themselves  they  appear  like 
men.  This  is  of  the  Lord's  mercy,  that  they  may 
not  appear  as  loathsome  to  each  other  as  they  do  to 
the  angels.  But  this  appearance  is  a  fallacy  which 
becomes  manifest  soon  as  a  ray  of  light  from  heaven 
is  let  in ;  for  in  the  light  of  heaven  everything  ap- 
pears as  it  really  is."    (H.  H.,  n.  553.) 

"  The  faces  of  all  in  the  spiritual  world  become 
the  images  of  their  affections.  .  .  Hence  the  form  of 
every  man  after  death  is  the  more  beautiful,  the 
more  interiorly  he  had  loved  divine  truths  and  had 
lived  according  to  them.  For  the  interiors  of  every 
one  are  opened  and  formed  according  to  their  love 


240  S  WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


and  life ;  therefore  the  more  interior  is  the  affection, 
the  more  conformable  it  is  to  heaven,  and  hence  the 
more  beautiful  is  the  face.  Therefore  the  angels  of 
the  inmost  heaven  are  the  most  beautiful,  because 
they  are  forms  of  heavenly  love.  .  .  I  have  seen  the 
faces  of  angels  of  the  third  heaven,  which  were  so 
beautiful  that  no  painter  with  all  his  art  could  ever 
give  to  colors  such  animation  as  to  equal  a  thou- 
sandth part  of  the  brightness  and  life  which  ap- 
peared in  their  countenances."    (H.  H.,  n.  459.) 

CHANNING.  —  "Now  in  the  present  state  we 
find  that  the  mind  has  an  immense  power  over  the 
body,  and  when  diseased  often  communicates  dis- 
ease to  its  sympathizing  companion.  I  believe  that, 
in  the  future  state,  the  mind  will  have  this  power  of 
conforming  its  outward  frame  to  itself  incomparably 
more  than  here.  We  must  never  forget  that  in  that 
world  mind  or  character  is  to  exert  an  all-powerful 
sway ;  and  accordingly  it  is  rational  to  believe  that 
the  corrupt  and  deformed  mind,  which  wants  moral 
goodness  or  a  spirit  of  concord  with  God  and  with 
the  universe,  will  create  for  itself,  as  its  fit  dwelling, 
a  deformed  body. 

"  That  delicate  part  of  our  organization  on  which 
sensibility,  pain  and  pleasure  depend,  is,  I  believe, 
peculiarly  alive  to  the  touch  of  moral  evil.  How 
easily,  then,  may  the  mind  hereafter  frame  the  future 
body  according  to  itself,  so  that  in  proportion  to  its 


THE  SPIRIT'S  SURROUNDINGS.  24I 


vice,  it  will  receive,  through  its  organs  and  senses, 
impressions  of  gloom  which  it  will  feel  to  be  the 
natural  productions  of  its  own  depravity.  {Works, 
Vol.  IV.,  p.  165.) 


LVI. 

CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE   SPIRIT  AND 
ITS  SURROUNDINGS  IN  THE  HEREAFTER. 

SWEDENBORG.— "  The  delights  of  every  one's 
life  are  turned  into  corresponding  delights  after 
death.  This  may  indeed  be  known  from  the  science 
of  correspondences,;  but  as  this  science  is  not  gen- 
erally understood,  I  will  illustrate  the  subject  by 
some  examples  from  experience. 

"All  who  are  in  evil  and  have  confirmed  themselves 
in  falsities  against  the  truths  of  the  church,  and  es- 
pecially they  who  have  rejected  the  Word,  shun  the 
light  of  heaven,  and  betake  themselves  to  dark  sub- 
terranean places  and  the  clefts  of  rocks,  and  there 
hide  themselves.  And  they  seek  such  retreats  be- 
cause they  have  loved  falsities  and  hated  truths;  for 
such  caverns  and  clefts  of  rocks  and  darkness  also 
correspond  to  falsities,  and  light  corresponds  to 
truths.  It  is  their  delight  to  dwell  in  such  places, 
and  disagreeable  to  them  to  dwell  in  open  plains. 
They,  too,  who  have  taken  delight  in  clandestine 

21  Q 


242  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


and  insidious  plots,  and  in  the  secret  contrivance 
of  fraudulent  schemes,  are  also  in  similar  caverns, 
and  enter  into  chambers  so  dark  that  they  cannot 
even  see  one  another,  and  there  they  whisper  in 
each  other's  ears  in  corners.  That  is  what  the 
delight  of  their  love  is  turned  into.  They  who 
have  studied  the  sciences  with  no  other  end  than 
to  acquire  the  reputation  of  learning,  and  have 
taken  delight  in  the  things  of  memory  from  pride, 
love  sandy  places  which  they  choose  in  preference 
to  fields  and  gardens ;  for  sandy  places  correspond 
to  such  studies.  .  .  They  who  have  been  sordidly 
avaricious,  dwell  in  huts  and  love  swinish  filth.  .  . 
They  who  have  passed  their  lives  in  mere  pleas- 
ures, lived  delicately  and  indulged  their  appetites, 
prizing  such  enjoyments  as  the  highest  good  of 
life,  love  excreta  and  filthy  places  in  the  other  life, 
because  such  pleasures  are  spiritual  filth,  and  they 
shun  places  that  are  clean ;  because  the  former  are 
delightful  and  the  latter  undelightful  to  them."  (H. 
H.,  n.  488.) 

"The  visible  objects  which  exist  in  the  heavens, 
correspond  to  the  interiors  of  the  angels,  and  to 
those  things  which  belong  to  their  faith  and  love, 
and  thence  to  their  intelligence  and  wisdom.  To 
confirm  this  by  examples  from  experience,  I  will 
adduce  some  particulars  by  way  of  illustration. 

"  They  who  have  loved  divine  truths  and  the  Word 
from  interior  affection,  in  the  other  life  dwell  in  light 


THE  SPIRIT'S  SURROUNDINGS.  243 


—  in  elevated  places  which  appear  like  mountains, 
where  they  are  continually  in  the  light  of  heaven. 
They  have  no  idea  of  darkness  like  that  of  night  in 
the  world.  And  they  also  live  in  a  vernal  tempera- 
ture. There  are  exhibited  before  them  as  it  were 
fields  and  harvests  and  likewise  vineyards.  Every- 
thing in  their  houses  glistens  as  if  made  of  precious 
stones.  To  look  through  the  windows  is  like  look- 
ing through  pure  crystals.  These  are  the  delightful 
objects  of  their  sight;  but  the  same  things  are  inte- 
riorly delightful  on  account  of  their  correspondence 
with  divine  celestial  things;  for  the  truths  of  the 
Word  which  they  have  loved,  correspond  to  har- 
vests, vineyards,  precious  stones,  windows  and  crys- 
tals. 

"  They  who  have  loved  the  sciences,  and  by  means 
of  them  have  cultivated  their  rational  faculty  and  so 
procured  to  themselves  intelligence,  and  have  at  the 
same  time  acknowledged  the  Divine,  find  the  pleas- 
ure which  they  derived  from  the  sciences  and  their 
rational  delight,  turned  in  the  other  life  into  spirit-  » 
ual  delight  which  is  that  of  the  knowledges  of 
[spiritual]  good  and  truth.  They  dwell  in  gardens 
where  appear  beds  of  flowers  and  grass-plats  beauti- 
fully arranged,  and  rows  of  trees  round  about,  with 
porticoes  and  walks.  The  trees  and  flowers  are 
varied  every  day.  The  view  of  the  whole  together 
fills  their  minds  with  delight  which  is  continually 
renewed  by  the  varieties  in  detail.    And  because 


244  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


these  objects  correspond  to  things  divine,  and  they 
who  behold  them  are  in  the  science  of  correspond- 
ence, they  are  perpetually  replenished  with  new 
knowledges  whereby  their  spiritual  rational  faculty 
is  perfected.  They  are  sensible  of  these  delights, 
because  gardens,  beds  of  flowers,  grass-plats  and 
trees  correspond  to  sciences  and  knowledges,  and 
the  intelligence  derived  from  them."   (H.  H.,n.  489.) 

Now,  although  Channing  has  nowhere  given  us  in 
detail  his  conception  of  the  outward  or  phenomenal 
world  in  the  Hereafter,  he  has  virtually  recognized 
the  great  underlying  principle  or  law  so  often  and 
emphatically  declared  by  Swedenborg.  He  believed 
that  in  the  future  life  the  outer  world  would  assume 
different  aspects  according  to  the  mental  or  moral 
condition  of  its  beholder;  that  a  dark  and  disor- 
dered state  of  the  soul  would  there  shed  darkness 
and  disorder  on  all  around  it.  And  he  bases  his 
conviction  on  well-known  facts  drawn  from  obser- 
vation and  experience  in  the  present  life.  For  he  de- 
clares his  belief,  "  that  in  that  world  mind  or  char- 
acter is  to  exert  an  all-powerful  sway;"  and  that  it 
will  there  not  only  "frame  the  future  body  according 
[that  is  in  correspondence]  to  itself,"  but  that  "in 
proportion  to  its  vice,  it  will  receive,  through  its  or- 
gans and  senses,  impressions  of  gloom  which  it  will 
feel  to  be  the  natural  productions  of  its  own  depravity!' 
Everywhere  and  always  that  which  occurs  under  the 
law  of  correspondence,  seems  a  perfectly  natural 


THE  SPIRIT'S  SURROUNDINGS. 


245 


result;  for  it  takes  place  according  to  an  established 
law  of  divine  order.  And  he  gives,  an  equally  clear 
and  emphatic  expression  to  this  belief  and  its  foun- 
dation, in  the  following  paragraph: — 

"When  I  reflect  how,  in  the  present  world,  a 
guilty  mind  has  power  to  deform  the  countenance, 
to  undermine  health,  to  poison  pleasure,  to  darken 
the  fairest  scenes  of  nature,  to  turn  prosperity  into 
a  curse,  I  can  easily  understand  how,  in  the  world 
to  come,  sin,  working  without  obstruction  according 
to  its  own  nature,  should  spread  the  gloom  of  a  dun 
geon  over  the  whole  creation,  and  wherever  it  goes, 
should  turn  the  universe  into  a  hell."  (Works,  Vol. 
IV.,  p.  165.) 

And  if  sin  possesses  this  transforming  power  in 
the  other  world  as  in  this  —  if  evil  or  hell  within 
the  soul  stamps  its  own  unseemliness,  disorder  and 
gloom  on  all  without,  for  the  same  reason  and  under 
the  self-same  law,  truth  and  goodness  —  all  the 
noblest  attainments  and  all  the  sweetest  of  heav- 
enly graces  —  should  see  themselves  mirrored  in  a 
world  of  corresponding  brightness  and  beauty ;  so 
that  those  who  have  heaven  within,  will  see  the  very 
same  heaven  or  its  corresponding  creations  reflected 
in  all  the  things  without. 

Little,  therefore,  as  Channing  has  said  on  this  sub- 
ject, his  clear  recognition  of  the  great  law  that  deter- 
mines the  outward  aspect  of  things  in  the  other  life, 
brings  him  into  the  same  close  agreement  with  Swe- 
21  * 


246  S W EDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


denborg  here,  as  we  have  found  him  to  be  elsewhere. 
And  both  are  in  like  agreement  with  one  of  our 
own  poets,  who  saw  deep  into  the  heart  of  nature 
and  of  man,  and  who,  in  his  "  Thoughts  on  the 
Soul,"  sings  thus  in  harmony  with  our  gifted  seers  : — 

"  Yes  :  man  reduplicates  himself.    You  see 
In  yonder  lake,  reflected  rock  and  tree." 
Each  leaf  at  rest,  or  quivering  in  the  air, 
Now  rests,  now  stirs  as  if  a  breeze  were  there. 

"  The  world,  O  man,  is  like  that  lake  to  thee : 
Turn  where  thou  wilt,  thyself  in  all  things  see 
Reflected  back.    As  drives  the  blinding  sand 
Round  Egypt's  piles,  where'er  thou  tak'st  thy  stand, 
If  that  thy  heart  be  barren,  there  will  sweep 
The  drifting  waste,  like  waves  along  the  deep. 

"  Who  has  no  Inward  beauty,  none  perceives, 
Though  all  around  is  beautiful.    Nay,  more  — 
In  nature's  calmest  hour  he  hears  the  roar 
Of  winds  and  flinging  waves  —  puts  out  the  light 
When  high  and  angry  passions  meet  in  fight; 
And,  his  own  bosom  into  tumult  hurled, 
He  makes  a  turmoil  of  a  quiet  world. 

"  Soul !  fearful  is  thy  power,  which  thus  transforms 
All  things  into  thy  likeness." 


CHRISTOLOGY. 


CHRISTOLOGY. 


LVII. 

SWEDENBORC  S  VIEW  OF  CHRIST. 

I HAVE  thus  far  compared  the  beliefs  and  teach- 
ings of  Swedenborg  and  Channing  on  nearly 
sixty  different  subjects  —  many  of  them  of  vital  im- 
portance, and  most  of  them  subjects  of  deep  con- 
cern to  every  Christian  believer.  I  have  placed 
their  testimony  on  these  several  points  side  by 
side,  and  as  far  as  practicable  allowed  each  writer 
to  speak  for  himself.  And  on  all  the  subjects  dis- 
cussed, the  reader  has  seen  how  close  and  com- 
plete is  their  agreement  —  always  in  substance,  but 
never  in  form  or  phraseology.  And  their  agree- 
ment is  the  more  remarkable,  because  the  teach- 
ings of  both  writers  are  seen  to  differ  widely  from 
the  generally  received  doctrines  of  the  last  century, 
and  even  from  most  of  the  popular  written  creeds 
of  to-day.  Some  of  these  agreements,  too,  are  on 
points  where  the  reader  would  least  expect  to  find 
any  similarity  —  another  fact  which  enhances  the 
importance  and  interest  of  the  inquiry. 

But  upon  one  subject  there  seems  to  be  quite  a 

249 


2 SO  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


difference  between  them ;  and  that  is,  the  nature 
(not  the  character)  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  should  be  regarded  by  Christians. 

Swedenborg  is  clear  and  emphatic  in  his  teaching 
on  this  subject.  Throughout  his  works  he  insists 
that  Christ  is  the  manifested  Jehovah, —  God  incar- 
nate,— "  God  with  us."  The  Divine  Being,  he  says, 
assumed  humanity  according  to  his  own  established 
laws  of  order.  He  was  born  into  this  world  as  all 
men  are.  But  that  which  was  born  —  the  Son  of 
God  — was  conceived  or  begotten  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  had  no  natural  father,  according  to  the  accepted 
Christian  Record.  As  to  his  external  or  natural 
humanity,  therefore  —  the  humanity  which  He  de- 
rived from  the  mother — He  was  like  other  men, 
full  of  hereditary  proclivities  to  evil,  which  exposed 
Him  to  the  assaults  of  all  the  hells,  and  rendered 
Him  liable  to  all  manner  of  temptations  as  other 
men  are.  But  as  to  his  internal,  He  was  different 
from  all  other  men ;  was  absolutely  Divine  from 
conception ;  was  Life  Itself,  and  not  a  mere  recip- 
ient of  life. 

So  that  while  on  earth,  He  was  at  once  Divine 
and  human  —  God  and  man.  And  his  human  had 
all  the  proclivities  and  frailties  and  limitations  of 
other  men.  But  by  a  process  called  glorification, 
which  is  the  type  or  prototype  of  every  man's  re- 
generation, He  gradually  put  off  all  the  finite,  ma- 
ternal humanity,  or  so  completely  filled  and  united 


S WEDENB ORG'S  VIEW  OF  CHRIST.        25  I 


it  with  his  essential  Divinity,  that  it  was  made 
Divine  also ;  thus  offering  to  our  human  needs 
Divinity  accommodated  to  our  finite  conceptions, 
or  a  Divine  Humanity.  This  accommodated  Divin- 
ity or  Divine  Humanity  we  can  see  mentally.  This 
we  can  form  some  idea  of.  This  we  can  draw'  nigh 
to  and  contemplate  and  love,  and  thus  appropriate, 
or  receive  into  our  own  souls  by  spiritual  assimila- 
tion. But  no  finite  being  on  earth  or  in  heaven  can 
form  any  conception  of  the  unveiled,  unaccommo- 
dated, absolute  Divinity.  Accordingly  Swedenborg 
says : — 

"What  is  Divine  is  incomprehensible,  being  above 
every  [finite]  understanding,  even  that  of  the  angels 
Nevertheless  this  Divine,  which  in  itself  is  incom- 
prehensible, can  flow  into  man's  rational  principle 
by  means  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Human ;  and  it  is 
received  according  to  the  truths  which  are  therein, 
consequently  in  a  different  manner  by  different  per- 
sons."   (A.  C,  n.  2531.) 

"  The  [absolute]  Divinity  is  above  all  thought,  and 
is  altogether  incomprehensible  even  by  the  angels." 
(Ibid.,  n.  5  1 10.    See  also  A.  C,  n.  3404,  2533.) 

That  sublime  and  redemptive  process  whereby 
the  assumed  human  was  glorified  or  united  to  the 
Divine  in  Jesus  Christ,  may  not  be  easy  of  compre- 
hension. It  was  a  process  of  which  the  unregener- 
ate  man  can  form  but  a  faint,  perhaps  no  very  clear, 
conception.    Yet  it  is  scarcely  more  difficult  to  un- 


252  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNIMG. 


derstand,  than  it  is  to  understand  how  our  natural 
or  external  man  becomes  subject  to,  or  united  with, 
our  internal  or  spiritual  man  by  regeneration ;  for 
our  regeneration  is  the  perfect  image  of  the  Lord's 
glorification.  And  if  we  can  see  that,  before  regen- 
eration, there  is  not  a  perfect  agreement  between 
our  spiritual  and  natural  man,  or  between  what  some 
call  "  our  higher  and  lower  nature,"  and  that  such 
agreement  or  oneness  is  effected  only  by  means  of 
much  self-denial  and  internal  conflict,  then  we  can 
see  how  the  Divine  and  the  human,  or  God  and 
man,  could  dwell  together  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  until,  through  a  series  of  temptation-conflicts, 
in  which  the  Divine  was  always  triumphant,  they 
became  perfectly  united. 

The  glorification  of  our  Lord,  therefore,  was  the 
orderly,  full,  and  perfect  development  of  Divinity  in 
humanity ;  the  former  bringing  the  latter  into  a 
state  of  perfect  oneness  with  itself,  like  the  oneness 
between  the  body  and  the  soul,  or  between  the  nat- 
ural and  the  spiritual  man  when  our  regeneration  is 
complete. 

So  that,  according  to  Swedenborg,  God  as  re- 
vealed to  us  in  the  person  of  the  glorified  Christ  — 
Divinity  manifested  in  humanity,  or  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity—  is  the  true  and  proper  Object  of  religious 
worship.  In  Him  are  united  the  Divine  and  the  hu- 
man, like  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  in  a  thor- 
oughly regenerate  man.    So  that  when  Jesus  says, 


CHA NNING ' S  VIEW  OF  CHRIST. 


253 


"  I  and  my  Father  are  one,"  He  refers  to  something 
more  than  a  unity  of  feeling,  desire  and  purpose. 
He  refers  to  a  unity  like  that  of  light  with  heat,  or 
of  the  external  with  the  internal  of  a  regenerate 
man,  or  of  body  with  soul.  In  drawing  nigh  to 
Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  we  draw  nigh  to  God;  in 
becoming  renewed  after  his  likeness,  we  are  renewed 
in  the  likeness  of  God  ;  in  addressing  our  prayers  to 
Him,  we  pray  to  God,  just  as  we  address  the  soul  of 
a  friend  through  the  medium  of  his  body. 

APPARENTLY  DIFFERENT  FROM  CHANNING S. 

Now  we  find  no  such  idea  as  this  anywhere  in 
Channing's  writings.  On  the  contrary,  he  believed 
that  Christ  was  a  separate  and  distinct  being  from 
the  Father,  and,  therefore,  not  a  proper  object  of 
religious  worship.  So  that,  on  this  subject,  there 
would  seem  to  be  a  wide  difference  between  him 
and  Swedenborg. 

And  yet,  on  closer  examination,  we  shall  find  this 
difference  to  be  more  apparent  than  real,  more  for- 
mal than  substantial.  And  we  shall  see,  too,  that 
Swedenborg's  doctrine  on  this  subject  is  precisely 
what  Channing  needed  to  give  harmony,  consist- 
ency, and  unity  to  his  own  Christology,  or  to  his 
clearly  expressed  views  of  the  moral  perfection, 
preexistence  and  sovereignty  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Absolute  Divinity  is  above  the  comprehension  of 
22 


254  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


finite  minds.  Neither  man  nor  angel  can  form  any 
idea  of  it.  It  is  the  unfathomable  mystery  of  being. 
It  is  the  unsearchable,  the  inscrutable,  the  unthink- 
able, the  unknown  and  unknowable.  Addressing 
our  prayers  to  pure  and  absolute  Divinity,  therefore, 
is  praying  to  the  unknown  and  incomprehensible; 
to  something  entirely  above  the  thought  of  men  or 
angels ;  to  something  of  which  the  finite  under- 
standing takes  no  cognizance  and  forms  no  concep- 
tion. It  is  like  the  natural  eye  looking  into  bound- 
less space  and  seeing  nothing.  And  praying  to 
such  an  invisible,  unknowable,  incomprehensible, 
divine  essence,  is  not  praying  to  a  Divine  Being  or 
Person.  It  is  praying  to  a  name, —  nothing  more;  a 
name  that  does  not  even  suggest  a  Divine  Form  or 
Personality,  or  any  intelligible  qualities.  But  Divin- 
ity brought  down  and  accommodated  to  our  finite 
conceptions,  —  the  Divine  revealed  in  and  through 
the  human,  or  a  Divine  Humanity,  —  this  we  can 
mentally  approach  and  contemplate ;  this  we  can 
see  and  love  and  reverence,  and  rationally  seek  to 
become  united  with. 

Now  the  essential  and  absolute  Divinity  is  desig- 
nated in  Scripture  by  the  terms  Jehovah,  God  and 
Father ;  and  the  Divine  Humanity,  by  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  Son  of  God.  The  former  is  fully  revealed  to 
us  in  and  through  the  latter;  and  hence  the  Son  is 
said  to  reveal  or  "declare"  the  Father,  —  to  "bring 
Him  forth  to  view,"  etc.    And  we  can  mentally  ap- 


WHAT  CHANNING  REALLY  WORSHIPED.  255 

proach  the  former  only  through  the  medium  of  the 
latter,  comparatively  as  we  have  access  to  the  invisi- 
ble soul  of  a  friend  through  the  medium  of  his  visible 
body.  Hence  Christ  (the  Divine  Humanity)  says, 
"No  one  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me;"  for 
no  one  can  mentally  approach  or  form  any  concep- 
tion of  the  essential  Divinity,  but  in  and  through 
the  Divine  Humanity,  —  the  comprehensible  and 
visible  medium  in  whom  the  Divinity  dwells  in  all 
fulness,  as  the  soul  in  the  body. 

WHAT  CHANNING  REALLY  WORSHIPED. 

It  is  not  denied  that  Channing's  formal  prayers 
were  addressed  to  the  absolute  Divinity.  To  him  it 
seemed  wrong  to  address  them  to  aught  else.  But 
did  he,  then,  reverence  and  love  an  incomprehensible 
essence,  or  a  mere  name  ?  Did  he  ignore,  overlook, 
or  pass  by  che  Divine  Humanity,  and  endeavor  to 
"climb  up  some  other  way,"  as  not  a  few  have  be- 
lieved and  represented?  By  no  means.  It  is  plain 
from  his  writings  —  nothing  could  be  plainer,  I  think 
—  that  in  his  heart  he  worshiped  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity, and  nothing  else.  For  oral  or  formal  worship 
is  not  the  real  worship.  What  the  soul  bows  down 
to  and  inwardly  adores ;  what  the  heart  loves  and 
reverences  above  all  else ;  what  the  understanding 
approves  as  the  supreme  good,  —  this  is  what  the 
individual  really  worships. 


256  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


And  can  any  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  char- 
acter and  writings  of  Channing,  doubt  that  it  was 
the  divine-human  qualities  or  characteristics  of  Jesus 
Christ  that  he  truly  loved  and  worshiped  ?  In  Christ 
he  saw  reflected  or  revealed  all  that  he  could  com- 
prehend of  Divinity.  In  Him  he  recognized  a  wis- 
dom and  power  possessed  by  no  merely  human 
being;  the  fulness  and  perfection  of  all  human  ex- 
cellence ;  a  pure  and  universal  love,  seeking  to  de- 
liver the  world  from  the  thraldom  of  selfishness  and 
sin  ;  a  sublime  spirit  of  self-forgetfulness,  self-denial 
and  self-sacrifice;  a  boundless  benevolence,  compas- 
sion and  forgiveness  ;  a  willingness  to  spend  and  be 
spent,  —  yea,  a  desire  to  give  Himself,  with  all  his 
amazing  wealth  of  love,  for  the  good  of  humanity. 

These  are  the  qualities  which  Channing  clearly 
recognized  in  Jesus  Christ.  And  well  he  might  say, 
as  he  did :  "  I  believe  him  to  be  a  more  than  human 
being."  These  are  the  divine-human  attributes  with 
which,  to  his  mind,  Jesus  Christ  was  clothed.  These 
attributes  he  loved  to  contemplate.  These  he  held 
up  continually  before  his  people  as  worthy  of  their 
highest  homage.  These  he  reverenced  and  loved 
above  all  else.  And  in  such  love  and  reverence  was 
there  not  the  real  and  essential,  though  not  the 
verbal  and  formal,  worship  of  the  Divine  Humanity? 
Swedenborg  answers  this  question  when  he  says  : 
"All  who  live  the  life  of  faith  [that  is,  live  right- 
eously] have  the  Divine  Humanity  in  their  hearts  " 


WHAT  CHANNING  REALLY  WORSHIPED.  257 


(A.  C,  n.  2724);  by  which  I  understand  him  to 
mean,  that  internally  or  at  heart  they  worship  the 
Divine  Humanity,  though  they  may  not  do  so  with 
their  lips. 

Again  he  says  : — 

"  The  Lord's  Divine  Humanity  is  denied  in  heart 
[however  it  may  be  acknowledged  and  worshiped 
with  the  lips]  by  all  who  are  in  the  life  of  evil,  that 
is,  by  all  who  despise  others  in  comparison  with 
themselves,  and  bear  hatred  towards  those  who  do 
not  pay  them  homage.  .  .  Such  persons  cannot  ac- 
knowledge the  Lord  [in  his  Divine  Humanity].  .  . 
But  they  who  are  in  the  life  of  good,  do  acknowledge 
Him  [in  their  hearts  if  not  with  their  lips]  ;  since 
they  are  receptive  of  influx  from  heaven,  the  chief 
constituent  of  which  is  love  or  charity ;  for  heaven 
is  the  Lord's,  from  whom  all  things  of  love  and 
charity  proceed."    (A.  C,  n.  2354.) 

And  he  further  tells  us  that  the  highest  homage 
we  can  pay  to  Christ  —  the  true  and  real  worship  of 
Him  —  is  to  love  and  religiously  obey  his  precepts. 
Agreeable  to  his  own  words :  "  He  that  hath  my 
commandments  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth 
me."  And  what  a  person  loves  supremely,  is  what 
he  really  worships.  And  who  can  doubt  that  the 
beauty  and  moral  perfections  of  Jesus  Christ  —  the 
divine-human  qualities  which  Channing  saw  and 
acknowledged  in  Him  —  were  what  he  loved  and 
reverenced  above  all  else,  and  what  he  would  have 
22*  R 


'258  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


others  also  love  supremely  ?  In  his  discourses  on 
"  Love  to  Christ,"  are  to  be  found  ample  illustrations 
of  the  truth  of  what  is  here  said.  — 

"  I  know  but  one  character,"  he  says,  "which  en- 
titles a  being  to  our  hearts,  and  it  is  that  which  the 
Scriptures  express  by  the  word  righteousness  ;  which 
in  man  is  often  called  virtue ;  in  God,  holiness ; 
which  consists  essentially  in  supreme  reverence  for, 
and  adoption  of,  what  is  right. 

"What  is  it  that  is  to  be  loved  in  Christ?  Why 
are  we  to  hold  Him  dear?  I  answer:  There  is  but 
one  ground  of  virtuous  affection  in  the  universe,  but 
one  object  worthy  of  cherished  and  enduring  love 
in  heaven  or  on  earth,  and  that  is  moral  goodness. 
I  make  no  exceptions.  My  principle  applies  to  all 
beings.  .  .  The  claim  of  God  to  the  love  of  his  ra- 
tional offspring  rests  on  the  rectitude  and  benevo- 
lence of  his  will.  .  . 

"  What  I  esteem  the  ground  of  love  to  Christ,  is 
his  spotless  purity,  his  moral  perfection,  his  un- 
rivalled goodness.  It  is  the  spirit  of  his  religion, 
which  is  the  spirit  of  God  dwelling  in  Him  without 
measure.  Of  consequence  to  love  Christ  is  to  love 
the  perfection  of  virtue,  of  righteousness,  of  benev- 
olence. And  the  great  excellence  of  this  love  is, 
that,  by  cherishing  it,  we  imbibe,  we  strengthen  in  our 
own  souls,  the  most  illustrious  virtue,  and,  through 
Jesus,  become  like  God."  {Charming' s  Works,  Vol. 
IV.,  pp.  185-6.) 


WHAT  CHANNING  REALLY  WORSHIPED.  2$g 


"  It  is  very  clear  that  love  to  a  being  must  rest  on 
what  we  know  of  Him,  and  not  on  unknown  and 
unintelligible  attributes."    (Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  193.) 

"  I  consider  love  to  Christ  as  requiring  nothing  so 
much,  as  that  we  fix  our  thoughts  on  the  excellence 
of  his  character,  study  it,  penetrate  our  minds  with 
what  was  peculiar  in  it,  and  cherish  profound  venera- 
tion for  it."    (Ibid.,  p.  192.) 

"  I  call  you  to  love  Jesus,  that  you  may  bring 
yourselves  into  contact  and  communion  with  per- 
fect virtue,  and  become  what  you  love.  I  know  no 
sincere,  enduring  good  but  the  moral  excellence 
which  shines  forth  in  Jesus  Christ."    (Ibid.,  p.  197.) 

Jesus  Christ,  then,  according  to  Channing,  is  the 
incarnation  of  truth  and  righteousness;  the  living 
embodiment  of  pure  and  perfect  morality.  And 
what  is  it  to  love  perfect  moral  excellence,  but  to 
love  God,  the  Being  of  whom  alone  such  excellence 
can  be  predicated  ? 

"  What  is  morality,"  he  asks,  "  but  the  exercise 
of  a  benevolent  and  just  temper  towards  all  beings 
within  our  knowledge  and  influence?  If  so,  what 
is  God's  character,  the  character  which  we  are  to 
love,  but  perfect  morality?  What  but  the  very 
dispositions,  in  their  fulness,  which  conscience  en- 
joins upon  every  man,  and  which  form  what  we 
call  rectitude?  To  love  God,  then,  is  to  love  mo- 
rality in  its  most  perfect  form."  (Memoirs,  Vol.  II., 
p.  15.) 


260  S WEDENB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


It  would  seem  from  this,  that,  according  to  Chan- 
ning's  belief,  the  love  of  God  is  identical  with  the 
love  of  Christ;  for  the  love  of  Christ  meant,  with 
him,  the  love  of  virtue,  the  love  of  righteousness, 
the  lov£  of  all  moral  excellence,  the  love  and  prac- 
tice of  the  principles  of  the  religion  He  taught  and 
lived,  —  the  love  and  practice  of  truth,  justice,  sin- 
cerity and  universal  benevolence.  And  the  supreme 
love  of  these  is  the  internal  and  real,  though  there 
may  not  be  the  external  and  formal,  acknowledg- 
ment and  worship  of  the  Divine  Humanity.  For,  as 
Swedenborg  says  :  — 

"  To  love  the  Lord  is  not  to  love  his  person,  but 
it  is  to  love  those  things  which  proceed  from  Him ; 
for  these  are  the  Lord  with  man.  That  is  to  say,  it 
is  to  love  what  is  itself  sincere,  right  and  just ;  and 
since  these  things  are  the  Lord,  therefore  in  the 
degree  that  man  loves  them  and  acts  from  them, 
he  loves  and  acts  from  the  Lord ;  and  in  the  same, 
degree  the  Lord  removes  things  insincere  and  un- 
just, as  to  the  very  intentions  and  will  wherein  are 
their  roots."    (Ap.  Ex.,  n.  973.) 

And  this  state  of  love  is,  according  to  the  same 
authority,  a  state  of  internal  and  genuine  worship. 
For  he  says  :  — 

"  When  a  man  is  principled  in  good  and  truth, 
then  there  is  divine  worship  in  every  employment 
in  which  he  engages ;  for  he  then  has  respect  to 
the  Divine  in  everything;  he  venerates  it,  loves  it, 


WHAT  CHANN1NG  REALLY  WORSHIPED.      26 1 


consequently  worships  it.  That  this  is  the  genuine 
divine  worship,  is  unknown  to  those  who  place  all 
worship  in  adoration  and  prayers ;  that  is,  in  things 
of  the  mouth  and  thought,  and  not  in  deeds  grounded 
in  the  good  of  love  and  faith."    (A.  C,  n.  10,143.) 

Precisely  this  seems  to  have  been  Channing's  idea 
of  the  highest  kind  of  worship.  And  although,  as 
I  have  already  remarked,  his  formal  prayers  were 
usually  addressed  to  the  absolute  Divinity,  yet  we 
find  a  single  paragraph  at  the  close  of  one  of  his  dis- 
courses in  "  The  Perfect  Life,"  containing  an  invoca- 
tion addressed  to  the  Divine  Humanity,  or  the  Glo- 
rified Christ.  The  sermon  was  preached  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  on  Christmas  day,  and  in  it  the  wri- 
ter aimed  to  unfold  what  seemed  to  him  "  the  sense 
in  which  this  Babe,  born  in  the  Manger  of  Bethle- 
hem, became  and  is  a  Saviojir."  It  is  a  sermon  "in 
which,"  says  the  distinguished  Editor,  "  Channing 
pours  forth  the  fulness  of  his  love  for  Jesus  Christ, 
as  the  embodiment  in  Mind,  Character  and  Life,  of 
Ideal  Perfection ;  .  .  .  closing  with  an  Invocation  — 
the  only  one  found  in  his  manuscripts  —  to  the 
First-born  among  many  Brethren." — The  following 
is  the  paragraph  referred  to  :  — 

"Compassionate  Saviour!  We  welcome  thee  to 
our  world.  We  welcome  thee  to  our  hearts.  We 
bless  thee  for  the  Divine  Goodness  thou  hast  brought 
from  Heaven ;  for  the  Souls  thou  hast  warmed  with 
love  to  man,  and  lifted  up  in  love  to  God ;  for  the 


262  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


efforts  of  Divine  Philanthropy  which  thou  hast  in- 
spired ;  and  for  that  hope  of  a  pure  Celestial  Life, 
through  which  thy  disciples  triumph  over  death. 
Benevolent  Saviour!  Inspirer  of  Goodness!  We 
offer  thee  this  tribute  of  affectionate  and  reveren- 
tial gratitude  on  earth;  and  we  hope  to  know,  to 
love,  to  resemble  and  to  approach  thee  more  nearly 
and  more  worthily  in  Heaven."    (Pp.  239,  '40.) 


ASSIMILATION  TO  CHRIST. 

And  Channing  held  that  union  with  Christ  — 
becoming  one  with  Him  in  thought,  feeling  and 
purpose  —  receiving  his  spirit  into  our  hearts  — 
is  identically  the  same  as  receiving  God's  spirit, 
and  so  becoming  united  with  Him.  And  "the 
true  religion,"  he  says,  "  consists  in  proposing  as 
our  great  end,  a  growing  likeness  to  the  Supreme 
Being."  And  we  grow  into  this  likeness  by  receiv- 
ing into  our  hearts  the  Divine  spirit  and  ultimating 
it  in  our  lives.  And  if  we  receive  Christ's  spirit 
and  grow  into  his  likeness  in  precisely  the  same 
way,  how  does  his  spirit  differ  from  God's  spirit, 
or  conjunction  with  Him  differ  from  conjunction 
with  God  ?  And  if  these  are  identical,  then  it 
would  seem  to  follow  as  a  logical  conclusion  from 
Channing's  own  admissions,  that  Christ,  viewed  as 
to  his  inmost,  soul,  spirit  or  person,  is  identical 
with  God.    And  on  the  reception  of  Christ's  own 


BY  WHOM  IS  CHRIST  BEST  UNDERSTOOD?  263 


life,  and  the  importance  and  means  of  becoming  as- 
similated to  Him,  he  says:  — 

"  Let  not  the  false  views  of  Christianity  which 
prevail  in  the  world  seduce  you  into  the  belief  that 
Christ  can  bless  you  in  any  other  way  than  by  as- 
similating you  to  his  own  virtue,  than  by  breathing 
into  you  his  own  mind.  Do  not  imagine  that  any 
faith  or  love  towards  Jesus  can  avail  you,  but  that 
which  quickens  you  to  conform  yourselves  to  his 
spotless  purity  and  unconquerable  rectitude.  .  .  He 
can  impart  to  you  nothing  so  precious  as  Himself, 
as  his  own  mind ;  and,  believe  me,  my  hearers,  this 
mind  may  dwell  in  you.  His  sublimest  virtues  may 
be  yours.  Admit,  welcome  this  truth.  Look  up  to 
the  illustrious  Son  of  God  with  the  conviction  that 
you  may  become  one  with  Him  in  thought,  in  feel- 
ing, in  power,  in  holiness.  His  character  will  be- 
come a  blessing  just  as  far  as  it  shall  awaken  in 
you  this  consciousness,  this  hope."  {Works,  Vol. 
IV.,  pp.  148-9.) 


BY  WHOM  /S  CHRIST  BEST  UNDERSTOOD* 

Swedenborg  often  tells  us  that  God  appears  to 
every  one  according  to  the  individual's  own  state ; 
for  we  see,  understand,  interpret  and  appreciate  Him 
according  to  the  measure  of  his  life  that  we  receive, 
or  according  to  the  degree  of  conformity  of  our  own 
souls  to  his  likeness.    Thus  we  understand  Him  by 


264  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


receiving  and  appropriating  his  own  life,  —  becom- 
ing pure  and  unselfish  as  He  is ;  and  we  do  this 
through  faithful  and  persistent  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  that  life.  (See  p.  156.)  And  in  perfect 
agreement  with  this  was  Channing's  idea.  Hear 
him :  — 

"  God  becomes  a  real  being  to  us  in  proportion  as 
his  own  nature  is  unfolded  within  us.  To  a  man 
who  is  growing  in  the  likeness  of  God,  faith  begins 
even  here  to  change  into  vision.  He  carries  in  him- 
self a  proof  of  a  Deity  which  can  only  be  understood 
by  experience.  .  .  That  unbounded  spiritual  energy 
which  we  call  God,  is  conceived  by  us  only  through 
consciousness. ^  .  The  Infinite  Light  would  be  for- 
ever hidden  from  us  did  not  kindred  rays  dawn  and 
brighten  within  us.  God  is  another  name  for  hu- 
man intelligence  raised  above  all  error  and  imperfec- 
tion and  extended  to  all  possible  truth.  The  same 
is  true  of  God's  goodness.  How  do  we  understand 
this,  but  by  the  principle  of  love  implanted  in  the 
human  breast  ?  Whence  is  it  that  this  divine  attri- 
bute is  so  faintly  comprehended,  but  from  the  feeble 
development  of  it  in  the  multitude  of  men?  .  .  .  The 
same  is  true  of  all  the  moral  perfections  of  the  Deity. 
These  are  comprehended  by  us  only  through  our 
own  moral  nature."    {Works,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  229-234.) 

And  as  it  is  the  self-same  thing  to  become  God- 
like as  to  become  Christ-like,  therefore  we  can  un- 
derstand or  see  Christ  in  his  true  character,  only  in 


CHRIST  THE  EMANCIPATOR  FROM  EVIL.  265 


the  degree  that  we  receive  his  divine-human  qualities 
into  our  hearts  and  become  like  Him.  The  different 
views  that  people  take  of  Him  arise  from  the  differ- 
ence in  their  own  characters,  or  the  different  de- 
grees in  which  they  receive  his  spirit.  Accordingly 
Channing  says :  — 

"  Nothing  so  much  brightens  and  strengthens  the 
eye  of  the  mind  to  understand  an  excellent  being,  as 
likeness  to  him.  We  never  know  a  great  character 
until  something  congenial  to  it  has  grown  up  within 
ourselves.  No  strength  of  intellect  and  no  study 
can  enable  a  man  of  a  selfish  and  sensual  mind  to 
comprehend  Jesus.  Such  a  mind  is  covered  with  a 
mist ;  and  just  in  proportion  as  it  subdues  evil  within 
itself,  the  mist  will  be  scattered.  Jesus  will  rise 
upon  it  with  a  sun-like  brightness,  and  will  call  forth 
its  most  fervent  and  most  enlightened  affection." 
{Works,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  212.) 


CHRIST  THE  EMANCIPATOR  FROM  EVIL. 

Then  it  is  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  Channing, 
who  delivers  us  from  all  evil,  who  opens  heaven 
within  us,  renews  us  spiritually,  and  so  fits  us  for 
heaven.  And  surely,  if  He  does  this,  He  is  our  Re- 
generator and  Saviour,  —  the  Giver  of  Eternal  Life. 
For,  again,  says  Channing  :  — 

"  It  is  the  most  interesting  event  in  human  his- 
tory, that  such  a  being  as  Jesus  has  entered  our 
23 


266  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


world  to  accomplish  the  deliverance  of  our  minds 
from  all  evil ;  ...  to  open  heaven  within  them,  and 
thus  to  fit  them  for  heaven.  It  is  our  greatest  priv- 
ilege that  he  is  brought  within  our  view,  offered  to 
our  imitation,  to  our  trust,  to  our  love.  A  sincere 
and  enlightened  attachment  to  Him  is  at  once  our 
honor  and  our  happiness,  —  a  spring  of  virtuous  ac- 
tion, of  firmness  in  suffering,  of  immortal  hope.  But 
remember,  this  will  not  grow  up  of  itself.  You 
must  resolve  upon  it  and  cherish  it.  .  .  In  the  last 
place,  you  should  obey  his  precepts,  and  through 
this  obedience  should  purify  and  invigorate  your 
minds  to  know  and  love  him  more.  Grace  be  with 
all  them  that  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincer- 
ity."   {Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  314,  315.) 


CHRIST  THE  EMBODIMENT  OF  HIS  RELIGION. 

According  to  Swedenborg,  Jesus  Christ  was,  and 
forever  is,  the  living  embodiment  of  the  principles 
He  taught.  He  was  the  very  incarnation  of  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom ;  the  Divine  Logos,  or  Word 
made  flesh ;  the  Infinite  brought  down  and  accom- 
modated to  finite  beings  and  finite  conditions ;  the 
development  of  Divinity  in  frail  and  finite  humanity, 
giving  to  our  human  needs  an  approachable  and 
comprehensible  Object  of  worship,  —  a  Divine  Hu- 
manity. He,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  thought  of  apart 
from  the  truths  He  taught  or  the  religious  system 


CHRIST  THE  SHEKINAH  TO  US.  267 


He  founded,  any  more  than  the  sun  is  to  be  thought 
of  as  something  separate  and  apart  from  his  own 
light  and  heat,  or  from  the  system  of  which  he  is 
the  central  force  and  controlling  power.  Christ  and 
Christianity,  according  to  his  teaching,  are  indis- 
solubly  united.  The  former  is  the  omnipresent  and 
vital  force  in  the  latter.  Christianity  without  the 
living  and  ever-present  Christ  as  its  quickening 
power  and  vitalizing  warmth,  were  but  a  cold  and 
lifeless  system,  —  a  mere  skeleton  instead  of  a  living 
thing  clothed  with  warm  human  flesh  and  blood. 
And  Channing's  idea  seems  to  have  been  not  very 
different  from  this.  In  a  letter  to  Prof.  Bush,  writ- 
ten in  1 841,  he  says : 

"  I  regard  Jesus  as  the  Shekinah  to  us  ;  as  a  mani- 
festation, embodiment,  of  God  to  us,  but  in  a  far 
higher  sense  than  the  old  Shekinah ;  for  he  was  not 
merely  a  symbol  of  the  divine  perfections,  but  God's 
wisdom,  love,  purity,  dwelt  really  in  him.  The  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  was  substantially  in  him.  His 
will  corresponded  precisely  to  the  divine."  {Me- 
moirs, Vol.  II.,  p.  438.) 

"  Considering  him  [John]  as  personifying  this 
truth  [Proverbs  viii.  22-30],  is  his  language  at  all 
hard,  forced,  —  'This  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God.  By  it  all  things  were  made '  ?  It  contains 
the  principles,  the  great  ideas,  according  to  and  by 
which  the  universe  was  formed.  '  It  was  God.'  It 
is  the  very  mind  of  God  laid  open, —  the  eternal  truth 


268  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


which  constitutes  the  Divine  Person.  '  In  it  was  life, 
spiritual,  immortal  life."    (Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  439.) 

"Jesus  is  his  religion  embodied  and  made  visible. 
The  connection  between  him  and  his  system  is  pe- 
culiar. It  differs  altogether  from  that  which  ancient 
philosophers  bore  to  their  teachings.  .  .  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  Christianity  without  Christ.  We 
cannot  know  it  separately  from  him.  .  .  He  per- 
vades it  throughout.  In  loving  him,  we  love  his 
religion.  .  .  Therefore  they  who  would  make  an  ab- 
stract of  his  precepts,  and  say  that  it  is  enough  to 
follow  these  without  thinking  of  their  author,  griev- 
ously mistake,  and  rob  the  system  of  much  of  its 
energy."    (Works,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  201,  202.) 

"  Christianity,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  intimately 
connected  with  its  divine  Teacher.  It  is  not  an 
abstract  system.  The  rational  Christian  who  would 
think  of  it  as  such,  who,  in  dwelling  on  the  religion, 
overlooks  the  Revealer,  is  unjust  to  it.  Would  he 
see  and  feel  its  power,  let  him  see  it  warm,  living, 
breathing,  acting,  in  the  mind,  heart,  and  life  of  its 
Founder.  Let  him  love  it  there.  .  .  Love  to  Christ, 
when  it  is  an  enlightened  and  rational  affection,  in- 
cludes the  love  of  his  whole  religion.  .  .  In  many 
cases,  this  affection  is  an  irregular  fervor  which  im- 
pairs the  force  and  soundness  of  the  mind,  and  whirh 
is  substituted  for  obedience  to  his  precepts,  for  the 
virtues  which  ennoble  the  soul."  (Ibid.,  pp.  104,  105.) 

"  Reduce  Christianity  to  a  set  of  abstract  ideas, 


CHANNINC  NOT  A  HUMANITARIAN.  269 


sever  it  from  its  Teacher,  and  it  ceases  to  be  the 
'  power  of  God  unto  salvation.'  .  .  .  Christian  truth 
coming  to  me  from  the  living  soul  of  Jesus,  with  his 
living  faith  and  love,  and  brought  out  in  his  grand 
and  beautiful  life,  is  a  very,  very  different  thing  from 
an  abstract  system.  The  more  I  know  of  Jesus,  the 
less  I  can  spare  him ;  and  this  place  which  he  fills 
in  my  heart,  the  quickening  office  which  his  charac- 
ter performs,  is  to  me  no  mean  proof  of  his  reality 
and  his  superhuman  greatness."  {Memoirs,  Vol.  II., 
p.  442.) 

And  in  his  last  public  utterance  —  his  address  at 
Lenox,  —  which  has  been  called  "the  swan-song 
of  a  son  of  light,"  there  occurs  this  striking  pas- 
sage :  — 

"The  doctrine  of  the  'Word  made  flesh'  shows 
us  God  uniting  himself  most  intimately  with  our 
nature,  manifesting  himself  in  a  human  form,  for 
the  very  end  of  making  us  partakers  of  his  own 
perfection." 

CHANNING  NOT  A  HUMANITARIAN. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  Channing's  idea  of 
Christ  was  very  different  from  that  of  the  humanita- 
rians. He  believed  Him  to  have  been  morally  per- 
fect, absolutely  sinless,  the  personal  manifestation  or 
embodiment  of  pure  unselfish  love  here  on  earth. 
He  regarded  Him,  therefore,  as  more  than  human, 
—  as  standing  apart  from,  and  at  a  measureless  dis- 
23* 


270  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


tance  above,  all  mere  human  beings  in  point  of 
moral  excellence.  But  he  needed,  I  think,  Sweden- 
borg's  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  of  Divinity  in  hu- 
manity—  a  humanity  encumbered  by  an  inconceiv- 
able weight  of  moral  evil,  or  proclivities  to  evil  —  to 
give  consistency  to  his  own  view  on  this  point,  and 
to  furnish  a  rational  explanation  of  the  temptations 
by  which  Christ  was  assailed. 

"  The.  humanitarian  system,"  he  says,  "seems  to 
me  to  labor  under  serious  objections ;  nor  am  I  at 
all  influenced  by  the  argument  which  its  disciples 
insist  upon  so  earnestly,  that  it  brings  Jesus  nearer 
to  us.  His  moral  perfection  seems  to  me  his  great 
peculiarity  and  separation  from  all  human  beings ; 
and  this  remains  the  same  on  all  systems,  and  is 
more  inexplicable  on  the  humanitarian  system  than 
on  any  other."    (Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  414.) 

"  I  am  also  grieved  to  find  you1  insensible  to  the 
clear,  bright  distinction  between  Jesus  Christ  and 
ourselves.  To  me,  and  I  should  think  to  every  reader 
of  the  New  Testament,  he  stands  apart,  alone,  in  the 
only  particular  in  which  separation  is  to  be  desired. 
He  is  a  being  of  moral  perfection  unstained  by  sin. 
.  .  .  My  own  history,  and  the  history  of  the  race,  and 
the  best  beings  I  have  known,  have  taught  me  the 
immense  distance  of  us  all  from  Christ.  He  is  to  be 
approached  by  graduaf  self-crucifixion,  by  a  war  with 


1  Letter  to  Miss  E.  P.  Peabody.  1840. 


THE  GRAND  MIRACLE. 


27I 


the  evil  within  us,  which  will  not  end  till  the  grave." 
{Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  446.) 

"Finally,  consider  the  offices  which  Jesus  sus- 
tained, of  Saviour  of  the  world,  the  one  Mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  Prince  of  Life,  who  is  to 
raise  the  dead  and  judge  mankind, —  do  these  offices 
appear  to  be  compatible  with  simple  humanity  ?  Do 
they  belong  to  a  being  who  himself  needs  a  me- 
diator, who  himself  has  sins  to  be  pardoned?  For 
this  must  have  been  true  of  Christ,  if  he  was  a  mere 
man."    (Ibid.,  p.  54.) 

CHRIST'S  CHARACTER  THE  GRAND  MIRACLE. 

"  I  see  not  how  the  rejection  of  these  [the  Christian 
miracles]  can  be  separated  from  the  rejection  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Without  them  he  becomes  a  mere  fable,  for 
nothing  is  plainer  than  that  from  the  beginning  mira- 
cles constituted  his  history.  There  is  not  a  trace  of  a 
time  when  he  existed  in  men's  minds  without  them. . . 

"  The  grand  miracle,  as  often  has  been  said,  is  the 
perfect,  divine  character  of  Christ;  and  to  such  a 
being  a  miraculous  mode  of  manifestation  seems 
natural.  It  is  by  no  figure  of  speech  that  I  call 
Christ  miraculous.  He  was  more  separate  from 
other  men  than  his  acts  from  other  acts.  He  was 
the  sinless,  spotless  Son  of  God,  distinguished  from 
all  men  by  that  infinite  peculiarity  —  freedom  from 
moral  evil.  .  .What  beautiful  types  of  Christ's  moral, 


Z72  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


healing,  quickening  power  we  have  in  the  miracu- 
lous parts  of  his  history !  I  feel,  as  I  read  them, 
that  the  conception  of  such  a  character  as  Christ, 
and  the  unfolding,  of  it  in  such  harmonious  acts  and 
operations,  transcended  human  power,  especially  in 
that  low  moral  age."  (Memoirs, Vo\.  II.,  pp.  442,  443.) 

CHRIST  EXALTED  TO  UNIVERSAL  EMPIRE. 

And  Channing  believed,  too,  that  Christ's  active 
interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  mankind,  and  his 
power  and  disposition  to  promote  it,  did  not  cease 
with  his  life  on  earth.  He  believed  that  He  has  a 
permanent  connection  with  the  human  race;  that 
He  is  "now  exalted  to  universal  empire;"  that  He 
is  to-day  present  in  the  midst  of  his  true  disciples, 
intimately  united  to  his  Church  on  earth,  its  inspir- 
ing Genius,  its  guiding  Light,  its  constant,  quicken- 
ing Power;  and  that  the  time  is  coming  when  his 
influence  on  the  world  will  be  more  conspicuous 
than  it  is  now. 

"According  to  these  [the  Scriptures],  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  a  teacher  whose  agency  was  chiefly  confined 
to  the  time  when  he  was  on  earth.  He  ever  lives, 
and  is  ever  active  for  mankind.  He  sustains  other 
offices  than  those  of  a  teacher;  he  is  Mediator, 
Intercessor,  Lord  and  Saviour.  He  has  a  perma- 
nent and  constant  connection  with  mankind,  and 
a  most  intimate  union  with  his  Church.    He  is 


MIRACULOUS  CONCEPTION  OF  CHRIST.  273 

through  all  time,  now  as  well  as  formerly,  the 
active  and  efficient  friend  of  the  human  race." 
{Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  60.) 

"According  to  the  Scriptures,  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God, ...  is  now  exalted  to  universal  empire.  Angels 
are  subjected  to  him.  Nature  is  subjected  to  him. 
He  is  present  by  his  knowledge  and  power  with  his 
Church.  He  never  forgets  the  race  for  which  he 
died.  He  intercedes  for  them.  He  assists  them. 
He  watches  over  the  interests  of  his  religion.  He 
will  make  it  victorious.  According  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  time  is  coming  when  his  influence,  now 
silent,  will  be  conspicuous,  when  the  veil  behind 
which  he  operates  will  be  withdrawn.  He  is  to 
come  with  hosts  of  angels.  He  is  to  raise  the 
dead,  to  judge  the  world,  to  fulfill  the  solemn 
threatenings  and  to  confer  the  everlasting  bless- 
ings of  the  gospel. 

"  This  connection  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  human 
race  seems  to  me  very  clearly  unfolded  in  Scripture ; 
and  though  it  is  astonishing  by  its  vastness,  yet  it  is 
in  no  respect  incredible."  (Ibid.) 

MIRACULOUS  CONCEPTION  OF  CHRIST. 

Many  passages  in  his  writings  furnish  conclusive 
evidence  that  Channing  accepted  as  historically  and 
literally  true,  the  account  of  the  manner  of  Christ's 
advent  as  recorded  by  Matthew  and  Luke.  He 

S 


274  SWEDE NB ORG  AND  CHANNING. 


believed  that  the  manner  of  his  conception  was  as 
different  from  that  of  other  mortals,  as  were  his 
character  and  whole  history;  that  his  conception 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  was  the  commencement  of  that 
series  of  miracles,  which  culminated  in  his  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension,  and  his  subsequent  manifestation 
to  his  disciples,  and  to  Paul  when  going  to  Damas- 
cus. He  believed,  as  he  says,  that  "the  outward  and 
the  inward  correspond  in  God's  system."  And  be- 
lieving "  the  perfect  divine  character  of  Christ  "  to  be 
itself  the  grandest  of  all  miracles,  he  held  that  his 
whole  outward  history  must  also  of  necessity  have 
been  extraordinary,  miraculous, —  else  the  great  law 
of  correspondence  between  the  outward  and  the  in- 
ward which  rules  everywhere  "  in  God's  system," 
would  have  been  infringed,  or  not  fulfilled. 


BELIEVED  ALSO  IN  HIS  PRE- EX  IS  TENCE. 

Consistently  with  his  belief  in  Christ's  miracu- 
lous conception,  Channing  believed  also  in  his  pre- 
existence.  Although  looking  upon  Him  as  a  finite, 
created  and  dependent  being,  he  believed  that  He 
had  a  conscious  existence  in  heaven — was  known, 
loved  and  reverenced  by  angels  —  before  He  was 
born  in  Bethlehem.    Thus  he  says  :  — 

"There  are,  you  well  know,  several  passages  of 
Scripture  which,  if  literally  taken,  teach  that  Christ 
existed  before  he  came  into  the  world.    And  we 


BELIEF  IN  HIS  P RE-EXISTENCE. 


275 


have  this  very  sufficient  reason  for  interpreting 
these  passages  literally,  that  his  whole  character 
and  the  offices  which  he  bears,  imply  a  more  than 
human  dignity. 

"Jesus  Christ,  then,  existed  before  he  came  into 
the  world,  and  in  a  state  of  great  honor  and  felicity. 
He  was  known,  esteemed,  beloved,  revered  in  the 
family  of  heaven.  .  .  If  the  dignity  of  Christ  was 
such  as  we  have  supposed,  then  the  history  of  the 
universe  contains  no  manifestation  of  pure,  devoted 
love  so  stupendous  as  his.  And  angels  who  knew 
the  Saviour  in  his  brightness  and  joy,  must  have 
received  from  his  humiliation  and  suffering  an  im- 
pression of  what  charity  can  perform  and  endure, 
such  as  no  other  transaction  can  have  given."  (Me- 
moirs, Vol.  II.,  pp.  54,  55.) 

It  is  no  part  of  our  present  purpose  to  examine 
or  criticise  the  views  of  Channing,  but  simply  to  com- 
pare them  with  those  of  Swedenborg ;  and  wherein 
they  are  found  to  differ  from  his,  to  consider  (or  ask 
the  reader  to  consider)  which  seems  most  agreeable 
to  enlightened  reason  and  the  known  laws  and  meth- 
ods of  the  divine  operation. 

And  a  thought  occurs  in  this  connection  which 
seems  worth  considering.  It  is  this :  The  highest 
reason,  and  all  we  know  of  the  divine  laws  and  meth- 
ods in  the  creation,  preservation  and  government 
of  the  universe,  concur  in  teaching  that  creation 
commences  on  the  lowest  or  natural  plane.  The 


276  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


natural  world  exists  or  is  created  first,  as  the  foun- 
dation of  the  spiritual  world.  The  man  is  created  be- 
fore the  angel.  The  sensual  or  corporeal  life  is  first 
formed  or  developed  ;  then  the  intellectual,  rational^ 
spiritual,  and  celestial  in  their  order.  The  lower 
forms  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  are  ever  found 
to  precede  the  higher.  Every  living  thing,  indeed, 
goes  to  prove  that  the  spiritual  or  angelic  heavens 
are  but  the  higher  and  more  complete  development 
of  beings,  whose  creation  or  existence  began  in  the 
lozvest  or  natural  realm. 

This  truth  admitted,  it  follows  that,  if  Jesus  Christ 
is  a  finite  and  created  being,  and  if  he  had  a  conscious 
existence  in  heaven  before  his  birth  in  the  Judean 
manger,  then  He  must  have  had  an  existence  on  this 
or  on  some  other  earth  prior  to  his  existence  in 
heaven.  He  must  have  begun  to  exist' (and  that  was 
the  time  of  his  creation)  in  the  lowest  or  natural 
realm.  So  that  what  is  commonly  called  his  first, 
must  have  been  at  least  his  second  advent. 

And  then  we  have  the  problem  presented  of  a  self- 
conscious  angelic  being  losing  his  conscious  exist- 
ence in  heaven,  and  entering  by  degrees  into  a  ma- 
terial organization ;  for  the  development  of  Christ 
from  his  conception  to  his  perfect  manhood  and 
complete  glorification,  was  as  gradual  as  the  develop- 
ment of  any  human  being. 

It  is  possible,  I  admit,  to  conceive  of  such  a  proc- 
ess. We  can,  for  example,  conceive  of  Dr.  Channing 


BELIEF  IN  HIS  PRE-EXISTENCE.  277 

himself  (now  an  angel  in  heaven,  I  doubt  not)  losing 
his  conscious  existence  in  those  celestial  realms, 
coming  into  this  lower  sphere  again  as  an  infant, 
gradually  developing  into  the  full  stature  of  man- 
hood, and  becoming  the  same  identical  Dr.  Channing 
that  he  was  and  is ;  conscious,  too,  of  his  identity. 
While  such  a  conception  may  be  possible,  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  one  that  is  easily  formed.  The  mind 
does  not  readily  entertain  it.  There  is  something  in 
it  which  renders  it  extremely  difficult  of  belief,  — 
something,  indeed,  at  which  our  reason  instinctively 
revolts. 

Not  so,  however,  with  Swedenborg's  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  Incarnation.  It  is  not  difficult  for  us  to 
conceive  of  Divinity  entering  into  a  human  ovum 
without  the  intervention  of  a  natural  father,  and 
forming  through  all  the  subsequent  stages  of  that 
divine-human  development,  its  controling  and  vital- 
izing power,  —  its  essential  life  and  soul. 

We  can  see,  too,  in  some  degree  of  rational  light, 
that,  with  such  a  divine  and  resistless  force  at  the 
centre,  sin  could  never  be  victorious  there ;  the 
legion  of  infernal  spirits  would,  in  all  their  assaults, 
be  put  to  flight;  and,  in  its  progress  towards  full 
development,  all  the  hereditary  proclivities  to  evil 
must  inevitably  be  overcome  or 'cast  out.  And  what 
else  might  we  reasonably  expect  as  the  final  out- 
come, but  humanity  made  Divine  and  Divinity 
made  human  in  the  Being  thus  miraculously  or  di- 
24 


278  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHAN  WING. 


vinely  conceived  ?  Or,  in  the  expressive  language 
of  the  illustrious  Swede,  a  "Divine  Humanity"? 

I  submit,  therefore,  that  Swedenborg's  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  Incarnation,  and  the  consequent  Divinity 
or  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  not  only  rea- 
sonable in  itself — and  the  only  reasonable  view, 
when  all  the  facts  in  the  case  are  duly  considered, 
—  but  that  it  is  in  more  complete  harmony  with  the 
idea  of  his  pre-existence,  and  his  "exaltation  to  uni- 
versal empire,"  than  is  Channing's  own  view  of  his 
finiteness,  his  personal  separateness  from  the  Divine, 
and  his  creaturely  dependence.  Nothing  less  than 
Swedenborg's  doctrine  of  the  sole  and  supreme  Di- 
vinity of  Christ  (so  it  seems  to  me)  can  render 
rational  or  consistent  Channing's  own  expressed 
belief  in  his  pre-existence. 


VIEWS  PRACTICALLY  CONSIDERED. 

Nor  was  this  belief  held  by  Channing  as  a  mere 
speculative  opinion.  He  regarded  it  as  one  of  great 
practical  moment,  —  as  calculated  to  affect  power- 
fully the  heart  of  the  believer.    Thus  he  says  :  — 

"The  greatness  of  Christ's  love  cannot  be  ade- 
quately known,  until  we  shall  know  hereafter  the 
height  from  which  he  came  to  our  rescue,  the  glory 
of  which  he  divested  himself,  the  riches  which  he 
parted  with  to  become  poor,  that  we  through  his 
poverty  might  be  made  rich.     We  can,  however. 


VIEWS  PRACTICALLY  CONSIDERED.  279 


understand  something,  even  here,  of  this  love.  The 
fact  that  such  a  being  was  attracted  to  us  by  our 
miseries,  that  through  the  power  of  love  he  came  to 
take  upon  him  our  griefs,  and  exchanged  heaven  for 
the  cross,  —  this  fact  is  a  revelation  of  generous  af- 
fection brighter  than  the  sun  ;  and  if  believed,  it 
ought  to  work  in  us  more  powerfully  than  all  other 
events."    {Memoirs,  Vol.  II.,  p.  55.) 

But  suppose  we  believe,  as  Swedenborg  teaches, 
that  this  was  a  revelation  or  manifestation  of  the 
Divine  Love  itself  on  the  plane  of  human  existence; 
that  Christ  was  the  living  embodiment  of  this  Love, 
whose  very  nature  it  is  to  be  touched  by  human 
woes  and  to  be  forever  seeking  to  save  and  bless. 
Would  not  such  a  belief,  by  presenting  to  us  an  in- 
telligible and  comprehensible  Being  worthy  of  our 
supreme  homage,  gratitude  and  love,  work  still 
more  powerfully  upon  our  hearts  and  lives  ?  Would 
it  not  bring  us  into  more  intimate  and  blissful  com- 
munion with  the  heavenly  Father,  if  we  recognized 
Him  as  dwelling  with  all  fulness  in  Jesus  Christ,  like 
the  soul  in  the  body? — just  as  direct  personal  com- 
munication with  an  earthly  sovereign,  effects  us 
more  powerfully  and  brings  us  nearer  to  him  than 
communication  through  one  of  his  ministers  how- 
ever duly  accredited. 

Yet  such  is  the  very  nature  of  that  Divine  Love 
which  was  the  life  and  soul  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  for 
which  He  stands  and  will  forever  stand  as  the  vis- 


280  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


ible  manifestation  and  living  embodiment  to  the 
minds  of  men.  And  when  we  consider  that  this 
love  was  united  in  his  person  with  a  wisdom  and  a 
power  equally  divine,  can  the  human  mind  conceive 
of  any  object  more  worthy  of  our  supreme  love  and 
adoration  ? 

And  what  else  did  Channing  love  supremely  ? 
What  else  did  he  inwardly  bow  down  to  and  wor- 
ship, but  those  divine-human  qualities  which  he  re- 
cognized as  dwelling  in  all  fulness  in  Jesus  Christ  ? 
And  the  fact  that  he  did  not  externally  and  formally 
also  worship  the  Divine  Humanity,  only  proves 
some  defect  or  lack  of  consistency  in  his  beliefs,  or 
a  want  of  perfect  agreement  between  his  formal  and 
his  real,  his  outward  and  his  inward,  worship. 

CHANNING S  CHRISTOLOG  Y  SUMMARIZED. 

From  the  quotations  here  made  from  Channing, 
it  is  easy  to  gather  his  views  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to 
understand  his  mental  attitude  in  regard  to  Him. 
Briefly  summed  up,  his  beliefs  were :  — 

I.  That  the  character  of  Christ  was  morally  per- 
fect ;  that  he  was  a  being  "of  spotless  purity,"  "the 
perfection  of  virtue,  of  righteousness,  of  benevolence;" 
"  absolutely  sinless ;  "  and  this  is  what  can  be  said 
of  no  finite  being;  is  what  places  Him  at  an  "im- 
mense distance  from  us  all,"  and  what  is  "  not  to  be 
expected  in  a  mere  human  being;"  and  there  is  "  no 


CHA NN INCS  CHRISTOLOGY  SUMMARIZED.  28l 


enduring  good,  but  the  moral  excellence  which 
shines  forth  in  Jesus  Christ ; "  and  that,  while  his 
whole  history  from  beginning  to  end  is  miraculous, 
"the  gt'and  miracle,"  after  all,  is  "the  perfect,  divine 
character  of  Christ." 

2.  That  we  should,  therefore,  "  cherish  profound 
veneration  for  his  character,"  which  we  do  in  the 
degree  that  we  seek  to  have  our  own  characters 
conformed  to  his;  that  "we  may,"  through  self- 
denial  and  self-crucifixion,  "become  one  with  Him 
in  thought,  feeling,  and  holiness;"  that  "to  love 
Christ,  is  to  love  his  religion,"  or  to  love  and  prac- 
tise the  precepts  that  He  taught ;  that  "  a  sincere 
and  enlightened  attachment  to  Him "  does  not 
spring  up  spontaneously,  or  "  grow  up  of  itself,"  but 
is  formed  only  by  "  obedience  to  his  precepts." 

3.  That  "  love  to  a  being  must  rest  on  what  we 
know  of  him,"  together  with  our  capacity  to  appre- 
ciate his  moral  worth  ;  that  "  the  selfish  and  sensual 
mind  cannot  comprehend  Jesus,"  and  those  can 
comprehend  Him  best  who  are  most  like  Him  in  the 
spirit  and  temper  of  their  minds — who  are  most 
loving,  self-denying  and  self-sacrificing, —  most  pure 
in  heart  and  life. 

4.  That  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  regarded  as  "  more 
than  man  ;  "  as  a  being  "  of  superhuman  greatness  ;  " 
"  more  separate  from  other  men  than  his  acts  from 
other  acts  ;  "  yea,  "  as  a  manifestation,  embodiment, 
of  God  to  us;"  as  "the  very  mind  of  God"  in  rela- 

24* 


282  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


tion  to  the  human  race,  "  laid  open  "  to  the  view  of 
mortals  ;  as  "  the  eternal  truth  which  constitutes  the 
Divine  Person ;  "  that  we  are  to  believe  "  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  was  substantially  in  Him ; "  that 
"  God's  wisdom,  love,  purity,  dwelt  really  in  Him." 

5.  That  "He  existed  before  He  came  into  the 
world,"  and  "was  known,  esteemed,  beloved,  re- 
vered "  by  the  hosts  of  heaven  ;  that  He  "  is  now 
exalted  to  universal  empire  ;  "  that  "  risen  and  glori- 
fied, He  now  lives  on  high,  not  as  an  unconcerned 
Spectator,  but  as  a  mighty  Agent  for  the  good  of 
the  whole  human  race,"  (p.  198;)  that  "angels,  com- 
missioned by  his  boundless  love,  He  sends  forth 
to  minister  to  all  heirs  of  salvation,"  (Ibid.);  that 
"  angels  are  subjected  to  Him,  and  Nature  is  sub- 
jected to  Him  ;  "  that  "  He  is  to  come  [again]  with 
hosts  of  angels  ;  is  to  raise  the  dead,  to  judge  the 
world,  to  fulfil  the  solemn  threatenings  and  to  con- 
fer the  everlasting  blessings  of  the  gospel." 

6.  That  He  came  into  the  world  "  to  deliver  our 
minds  from  all  evil;"  "  to  open  heaven  within  them," 
and  thus  to  "  fit  them  for  heaven  ;  "  that  He  is  still 
actively  at  work  to  accomplish  the  same  beneficent 
purpose,  for  "  He  ever  lives  and  is  ever  active  for 
mankind;"  that  He  sustains  "a  permanent  and  con- 
stant connection  "  with  our  world,  and  "a  most  inti- 
mate union  with  his  Church ; "  that  He  is  ever  seek- 
ing to  impart  his  own  life  —  his  pure  unselfish  love 
—  to  hungry  souls,  since  this  alone  can  satisfy  their 


CHANNING ' S  CHRISTOLOGY  SUMMARIZED.  283 

hunger  and  fill  them  with  unspeakable  joy;  for  "He 
can  impart  to  you  nothing  so  precious  as  Himself, — 
as  his  own  mind." 

Now  the  question  is,  Can  all  this  be  believed  or 
justly  said  of  a  created,  finite,  dependent  being?  I 
think  not, —  without  a  very  severe  strain  upon  the 
meaning  of  words.  I  submit,  therefore,  that  the 
language  employed  by  Dr.  Channing,  when  speak- 
ing of  Jesus  Christ,  can  find  its  complete  justifica- 
tion in  nothing  less  or  other  than  Swedenborg's  doc- 
trine of  the  Divine  Humanity ;  that  this  doctrine  is 
more  in  harmony  with  his  clearly  expressed  views 
of  the  character,  offices,  pre-existence  and  sover- 
eignty of  Christ,  than  that  professed  and  taught 
by  himself;  that  it  is,  indeed,  the  very  doctrine 
which  Channing  needed  to  give  unity,  harmony 
and  consistency  to  his  own  views,  and  roundness 
and  completeness  to  his  theological  system. 

True,  he  did  not  formally  worship  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity. He  did  not  address  his  prayers  directly  to 
Divinity  as  revealed  in  the  assumed  humanity  —  to 
the  Father  as  brought  to  view  or  manifested  in  the 
Son, —  that  is,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  if,  as 
I  believe  and  have  endeavored  to  show,  he  loved 
supremely  those  divine-human  qualities  in  Christ 
which  he  recognized  and  could  clearly  compre- 
hend, and  which  he  longed  and  earnestly  strove 
to  appropriate,  then  did  he  really  and  at  heart  wor- 
ship the  Divine  Humanity.    But  no  one  can  deny  or 


284  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 

doubt  that  it  would  have  added  to  the  unity  as  well 
as  to  the  harmony  and  consistency  of  his  Christ- 
ology,  had  his  external  and  formal  agreed  with  his 
internal  and  real  worship ;  or  had  he  addressed  his 
prayers  to  God  in  Christ,  not  out  of  Him ;  —  not  as 
another  and  separate  Being,  but  as  the  innermost, 
incomprehensible  and  viewless  portion  of  the  self- 
same Being  whose  mighty  and  mysterious  depth  of 
wisdom  and  infinity  of  love,  no  finite  mind  can  ever 
fathom. 

And  while  I  do  not  believe  that  Channing's  own 
growth  was  hindered,  or  the  beauty  and  saintliness 
of  his  character  in  any  degree  marred  by  (what 
seems  to  me)  the  defectiveness  of  his  Christology, 
I  nevertheless  think  the  inevitable  tendency  of  his 
view  was  and  is  to  lead  the  inquirer  away  from  one 
of  the  sublimest  of  truths,  and  thus  measurably  to 
interfere  with  the  world's  highest  progress.  For 
many  will  see,  as  multitudes  have  already  seen,  the 
lack  of  harmony  and  consistency  in  his  view;  and 
seeing  this,  and  seeing  no  other  way  of  escape  while 
the  fundamental  premise  is  adhered  to,  they  will 
drift,  by  the  inevitable  force  of  logic,  into  a  sim- 
ple humanitarianism,  which,  I  am  confident,  has 
far  less  power  than  Swedenborg's  great  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  Humanity,  to  move  the  world  and  carry 
it  onward  and  upward  towards  the  higher  life. 


CONCLUSION. 


285 


LVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

IT  was  my  intention  at  the  commencement  of  this  work, 
to  have  pointed  out  the  difference,  or  apparent  differ- 
ence, between  Swedenborg  and  Channing  on  one  or  two 
other  subjects  ;  but  as  my  main  object  has  been  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  many  and  marvelous  agreements  between 
these  writers,  I  therefore  pass  by  their  differences  without 
further  remark.  And  I  do  this  the  more  willingly,  be- 
cause the  too  prevalent  custom  among  Christian  teachers 
hitherto,  has  been  to  dwell  upon  and  magnify  these  latter 
rather  than  the  former  ;  thereby  raising  higher  and  higher 
the  partition  walls  which  divide  the  different  denomina- 
tions, and  fostering  alienation  if  not  hostility  among  the 
different  branches  of  the  great  household  of  Christ.  If 
there  is  to  be  any  magnifying,  I  think  it  wiser  and  better 
and  more  promotive  of  the  cause  of  peace,  union  and 
progress  among  Christians,  that  they  magnify  the  points 
whereon  they  agree,  rather  than  those  on  which  they 
differ.  It  is  certainly  wise  and  safe  to  place  the  emphasis 
on  our  agreements  rather  than  on  our  differences. 

The  students  of  Swedenborg  will  see  from  the  extracts 
in  the  foregoing  pages  —  and  most  of  them,  I  doubt  not, 
will  rejoice  at  seeing  —  that  many,  and  among  them  some 
of  the  most  vital,  truths  of  the  New  Church  are  to  be  found 
in  the  writings  of  the  gifted  Channing.  They  will  rejoice 
to  learn  that  so  many  of  the  precious  verities  which  have 


286  SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


brought  light  and  comfort  to  their  own  souls,  are  being 
read  and  accepted  by  hundreds  of  families,  and  proclaimed 
from  hundreds  of  pulpits,  where  possibly  they  had  been 
wont  to  think  that  but  little  of  heaven's  clear  light  had 
penetrated.  Nor  will  their  joy  be  diminished  but  rather 
increased,  on  learning  that  these  truths  came  to  Channing 
in  a  way  not  very  unlike  that  in  which  they  came  to  Swe- 
denborg  —  that  is,  from  the  Lord  out  of  heaven,  by  in- 
terior revelation  or  rational  enlightenment.  And  while 
they  will  not  value  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  one  iota 
less,  they  will  prize  those  of  Channing  more,  and  in  their 
hearts  give  thanks  and  rejoice  at  the  many  and  diverse 
ways  in  which  the  Lord  moulds  and  presents  the  precious 
truths  of  heaven  in  accommodation  to  the  various  states 
of  his  children. 

And  the  students  of  Channing  will  here  learn  that  the 
seer  of  Stockholm,  whom  most  of  them  have  probably  been 
in  the  habit  of  regarding  as  an  amiable  but  wild  and  de- 
luded visionary,  was  one  of  the  profoundest  thinkers, 
ablest  reasoners,  wisest  writers,  clearest  seers  of  good  and 
truth  —  in  short,  one  of  the  most  highly  illumined  men  — 
that  has  ever  blest  our  world.  Or,  if  they  do  not  learn 
all  this  from  the  few  extracts  here  given,  they  will  learn 
sufficient,  I  hope,  to  convince  them  that  the  world's  (and 
possibly  their  own)  general  estimate  of  Swedenborg  is 
entirely  wrong ;  and  learning  this,  and  then  patiently  fol- 
lowing up  the  inquiry  which  the  lesson  will  naturally 
suggest,  they  may  at  length  come  to  see  that  I  have  not 
here  spoken  extravagantly  :  nay,  more  —  that,  had  I  placed 
this  man  not  merely  among  the  most  enlightened  men, 
but  far  above  all  whose  histories  or  works  have  come  down 


COiXCL  USIOX. 


287 


to  us,  I  should  not  have  transcended  the  bounds  of  mod- 
eration or  of  truth. 

But  whatever  judgment  may  be  formed  as  to  the  relative 
degree  of  enlightenment  of  these  two  men,  or  the  relative 
measure  of  wisdom  to  be  found  in  their  writings,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  they  both  saw  with  equal  clearness  the 
errors  of  the  old  theologies,  exposed  them  with  equal  free- 
dom, and  rejected  them  with  equal  emphasis  as  alike  un- 
scriptural,  unreasonable,  untrue  and  unwholesome.  Nor 
can  it  be  denied  that  they  both  exalted  character  or  right- 
eousness of  life  above  everything  else,  holding  love  to  the 
Lord  and  the  neighbor  to  be  of  paramount  importance, 
and  valuing  all  other  things — institutions,  creeds,  churches, 
doctrines,  forms  of  worship  —  only  according  to  their  effi- 
cacy in  developing  this.  And  both  were  alike  large, 
generous,  and  catholic  in  spirit,  insisting  that  the  true 
church  of  the  Lord  is  larger  than  any  sect  —  larger  than 
any  religion,  even  —  consisting  of  the  good  and  faithful 
of  every  name  and  creed,  in  Heathendom  as  well  as  in 
Christendom. 

Now  let  this  spirit  be  everywhere  encouraged  and  cul- 
tivated, and  let  that  which  both  these  writers  so  earnestly 
insist  upon  as  the  central  principle  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ, 
be  accepted  as  such  in  all  the  churches,  and  what  a  change 
would  erelong  pass  over  our  Christian  communities  — 
yes,  over  our  whole  Christian  civilization !  Church 
schisms  would  no  longer  be  possible,  for  intellectual  and 
religious  liberty  would  be  everywhere  respected  and  en- 
couraged. Individuals  and  churches  woula  then  be  held 
in  esteem  for  their  character  more  than  for  their  creeds. 
There  would  be  some  difference  in  people's  beliefs,  giving 


288         SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING. 


rise  to  different  denominations  or  sects ;  but  the  mischiev- 
ous and  loathsome  spirit  of  sect  would  be  everywhere  cast 
out.  Christian  life  and  character  —  a  sweet  and  gentle 
temper,  patience  in  suffering,  resignation  under  sore  trials, 
a  noble  self-forgetfulness  and  self-denial,  a  generous  devo-' 
tion  to  others'  welfare,  a  wise  consecration  of  time,  talents 
and  wealth  to  the  highest  uses,  an  unswerving  love  of 
justice,  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  every  known  duty,  a 
humble,  trustful,  loving  and  forgiving  spirit — these,  ac- 
companied by  a  devout  acknowledgment  of  Him  from 
whom  all  good  dispositions  and  all  right  feelings  proceed, 
would  be  held  up  as  the  things  of  chief  concern  and  high- 
est worth,  and  surer  tests  of  Christian  discipleship  than 
any  mere  articles  of  belief  however  true  or  venerable. 
There  would  be  but  one  party  in  all  the  churches,  and 
this  would  be  the  party  of  freedom,  progress  and  tolera- 
tion ;  the  party  seeking,  as  the  object  of  supreme  interest, 
an  inward  personal  renewal  after  the  image  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  the  party  resolutely  bent  on  overcoming, 
through  the  strength  of  the  Almighty,  the  despotic  king- 
dom of  Satan  —  the  demons  of  pride,  avarice,  hatred,  self- 
ishness, lust,  and  all  the  infernal  dispositions  which  defile 
the  temple  of  the  Lord,  and  establishing  in  their  stead  the 
opposite  heavenly  dispositions  —  Christ's  own  kingdom 
of  righteousness  and  peace. 

And  would  not  this  be,  indeed,  a  new  and  very  real  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  Would  it  not  be  a  very  real 
fulfilment  of  the  promise  concerning  his  Second  Advent, 
which  was  to  be  "  with  power  and  great  glory  "  ? 

"Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus." 


THE  END. 


Publications  of  the  Swedcnborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  SWEDEN BORG  LIBRARY. 

COMPILED  AND  EDITED 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 

12  volumes;  averaging  250  pp.  each,  4}  X  6  inches;  neat,  in 
cloth.    Price,  40  cts.  single  vol.,  postage  (4  cts.)  extra  ; 
$4.50  the  set,  postage  (50  cts.)  extra. 

A  new  and  cheap  edition,  cloth-bound,  but  in  G  volumes.  Price, 
$3.25,  post-paid  ;  sold  only  in  sets.    A  liberal  discount 
made  to  ministers  and  theological  students  when 
ordered  from  the  publishers. 


This  series  consists  of  the  choicest  selections  from  Sweden- 
borg's  writings,  topically  arranged,  with  a  full  Table  of  Con- 
tents ;  and  gives  a  clear  and  complete  view  of  all  the  author's 
religious  and  ethical  teachings  in  a  neat  and  extremely  cheap 
form.  Vol.  12  contains  320  pages,  and  a  beautiful  portrait  of 
the  author.  A  pamphlet  of  96  pages,  giving  the  Contents  of 
each  volume,  will  be  sent  gratis  on  application. 

THEIR  TITLES  ARE: 
I.  Death,  Resurrection  and  the  Judgment.  II  Heaven.  III.  Freedom, 
Rationality  and  Catholicity.  IV.  Divine  Providence  and  its  Laws. 
V.  Charity,  Faith  and  Works.  VI.  Free-Will,  Repentance,  Reforma- 
tion, Regeneration.  VII.  Holy  Scripture  and  the  Key  to  its  Spiritual 
Sense.  VIII.  Creation,  Incarnation,  Redemption,  and  the  Divine 
Trinity.  IX.  Marriage  and  the  Sexes  in  Both  Worlds.  X.  The  Au- 
thor's Memorabilia.  XI.  The  Heavenly  Doctrine  of  the  Lord.  XII. 
Swedenborg;  with  a  Compend  of  his  Teachings. 

A  FEW  OF  ITS  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1st.  It  gives  the  substance  of  Swedenborg's  teachings  in  a 
compact  form,  and  in  his  own  words  (translated),  with  refer- 
ences to  the  particular  works  whence  the  extracts  are  taken. 

2d.  It  classifies  the  subjects  in  a  way  to  render  it  easy  for  the 
reader  to  find  whatever  spiritual  instruction  he  may  be  seeking. 

3d.  The  volumes  are  of  such  a  convenient  size,  that  one  of 
them  may  be  easily  carried  in  the  coat-pocket. 

4th.  Any  volume  of  the  series  makes  a  cheap  and  beautiful 
gift-book  to  a  friend,  or  to  any  seeker  of  the  highest  truths. 

6th.  Each  volume  being  complete  in  itself,  may  be  purchased 
separately  when  so  desired. 

6th.  The  work  is  gotten  up  in  very  tasteful  style,  the  series 
making  a  beautiful  as  well  as  valuable  addition  to  any  library. 
Address:      Tue  Swedenborg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
1 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

"This  little  '  Library  '  is  a  specialty,  indeed.  It  will  be  hard 
to  find  any  other  printed  matter  in  the  world  which  will  so 
worthily  occupy  an  equal  twelve  inches  of  shelf-room. 
For  a  ready  reference  to,  and  a  convenient  summary  of,  what 
Swedenborg  teaches,  .  .  we  do  not  know  where  to  look  for 
a  more  valuable  work  than  this.  Moreover,  it  is  of  the  first 
importance  that  in  the  study  of  any  subject  there  should  be  an 
order  and  a  progressive  classification  of  truths ;  and  here  is 
where  we  have  found  much  to  admire  in  these  little  books." — 
New-  Church  Review. 

"  The  Swedenborg  Library  is  the  best  adapted  to  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  Swedenborg's  voluminous  system  within  the 
scope  of  popular  comprehension,  of  any  work  that  has  come  to 
our  notice." — Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

"The  choice  of  extracts  [in  this  series]  is  exquisite,  admi- 
rable, and  of  the  greatest  importance  and  use,  even  to  well- 
instructed  members  of  the  New  Church." — Translated  from 
Bote  der  Nuen  Kirche. 

"  We  can  heartily  commend  this  little  book  to  any  who  may 
desire  a  general  notion  of  the  theological  views  of  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  men  that  ever  lived." — Cincinnati  Times. 

"If  what  Swedenborg  relates  [in  Vol.  2 — Heaven]  is  a 
coinage  of  the  brain,  then  he  is  the  greatest  master  of  fiction 
among  modern  writers." — San  Francisco  Bulletin. 

"  Swedenborg,  when  studied  for  the  sake  of  his  spirit  only, 
must  improve  in  the  esteem  of  all  good  men.  The  abridged 
edition  of  his  works  is  very  attractive  in  form,  and  is  full  enough 
to  convey  the  author's  meaning." — The  Christian  Union. 

"  If  one  desires  to  have  a  succinct,  clear,  and  adequate  idea 
of  the  teachings  of  the  New  Church,  here  in  these  handsome 
volumes,  in  a  cheap  form,  he  can  obtain  it." — Zioii's  Herald. 

"  The  editor  has  done  a  real  service,  not  only  to  those  of  his 
own  special  faith,  but  for  thoughtful  Christians  in  all  denomina- 
tions. .  .  Such  selections  as  are  contained  in  this  neat  and 
choice  little  volume  are  spiritually  edifying  and  abundantly  sug- 
gestive."—  Chicago  Advance. 

"The  series  is  every  way  admirable,  and  cannot  fail  to  be 
welcomed  by  all  the  religiously  inclined,  as  well  as  by  the  im- 
mediate followers  of  the  teachings  of  the  great  Swedish  philos- 
opher."—  Chicago  Journal. 

2 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  SEXES  IN  BOTH  WORLDS. 

The  following  letter  from  an  intelligent  New-Church  minister, 
who  has  tor  many  years  been  doing  very  acceptable  and  efficient 
work  in  the  missionary  field,  was  written  soon  after  he  had 
read  Vol.  ix,  which  treats  of  "  Marriage  and  the  Sexes  in  both 
Worlds."    It  is  published  with  the  author's  permission. 

"  McMinnville,  Tenn.,  May  2Gth,  1881. 
"  Rev.  B.  F.  Barrett. 

"My  Dear  Brother:— I  have  read  with  unusual  interest 
the  9th  volume  of  the  'Swedenborg  Library,'  which,  in  some 
respects,  is  the  crown  of  all  the  rest. 

"  Swedenborg's  teachings  on  the  subject  whereof  it  treats, 
are  entirely  new.  There  is  nothing  approaching  them  in  the 
writings  of  the  Old  Church.  His  '  Conjugial  Love '  has  been 
the  target  of  slander,  abuse,  and  misrepresentation  by  Pike, 
Pond,  and  others.  .  .  I  know  of  no  better  way  to  counteract 
such  influence  [as  these  critics  have  sought  to  exert],  than  by 
a  free  circulation  of  E.  S.'s  own  teachings  on  these  subjects,  or 
such  extracts  from  his  writings  as  shall  give  the  pith  and  marrow 
of  his  teachings.  This  is  most  admirably  done  in  Vol.  IX.  of 
the  'Swedenborg  Library.' 

''The  series  of  works  you  are  publishing  under  this  general 
title  has,  in  my  judgment,  no  equal  for  giving  to  the  masses  the 
grand  truths  of  the  New  Age.  The  volumes,  so  far  as  they 
have  been  published,  contain  the  very  essence  of  the  great  seer's 
teachings,  every  sentence  ponderous  with  glorious  truth  adapted 
to  the  comprehension  of  all.  Surely  the  happy  thought  that 
gave  these  little  books  to  the  world,  had  its  origin  in  the 
celestial  heavens. 

"  Rest  assured,  the  Lord,  with  his  holy  angels — among  whom 
may  be  Swedenborg  himself— will  carry  on  this  work  to  a  suc- 
cess far  beyond  your  most  sanguine  expectation.  What  a  rich, 
priceless,  blessed  privilege  to  cooperate  with  them  in  this  glo- 
rious work !  Very  truly  yours,  J.  P.  Smith." 
Address           Swedenborg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


HEAVEN  REVEALED.  Being  a  Popular  Presentation  of 
Swedenborg's  Disclosures  about  Heaven,  with  the  Con- 
current Testimony  of  a  few  Competent  and  Reliable 
Witnesses. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
383  pp.,  5\  X  7  inches  ;  large  type  ;  fine  cloth  ;  price,  75  cts. 

CONTENTS. 

Swedenborg  the  Chosen  Instrument. — Objections  Answered.— The  Origin  of 
Angels.— The  Essential  Nature  of  Heaven  — Character  of  the  Angels. — 
Verdict  of  Reason  and  Experience.— Testimony  of  Scripture. — The  Sure 
Way  to  Heaven.— Light  and  Heat  in  Heaven.— Practical  Tendency  of 
this  Disclosure. — Environment  in  Heaven,  and  What  Determines  It. — 
Societies  in  Heaven. — The  Human  Form  of  Heaven, — A  Heaven  for 
the  Non-Christian  World.— Are  Earthly  Relationships  Continued  in 
Heaven?— Meeting  and  Recognition  of  Friends  in  the  Hereafter. — 
Personal  Appearance  of  the  Angels.— Rejuvenescence  and  Growth  in 
Heaven. — Houses  and  Homes  in  Heaven. — Garments  in  Heaven. — 
Children  in  Heaven. — Sex  and  Marriage  in  Heaven.— Conjugial  Love; 
its  Nature. — Practical  Considerations. — Work  in  Heaven. — The  Three 
Jfeavens,  and  How  Related.— Eternal  Progress  in  Heaven.— Consocia- 
tion of  Angels  with  Men. 

"It  would  seem  impossible  for  any  sincere  person  to  read 
this  book  without  great  benefit  and  satisfaction."  —  Mount  Joy 
Herald. 

"Singularly  pure  and  beautiful  and  rational  is  the  spiritual 
atmosphere  pervading  the  book,  a  perpetual  invitation  to 
cherish  the  good  and  reject  the  evil." — Boston  Herald. 

"  The  beautiful  yet  thoroughly  practical  teachings  of  Sweden- 
borg concerning  the  future  life,  are  clearly  and  concisely  given 
within  this  fair-sized  volume — and  a  most  readable  and  instruc- 
tive volume  it  is." — Boston  Evening  Transcript. 

"  Ministers  of  the  gospel  and  religious  teachers  of  all  grades 
and  denominations  will  find  this  book  delightfully  interesting 
and  instructive." — The  Bcllefontaine  Examiner. 
A  Baptist  minister  writes: 

"I  have  examined  Heaven  Revealed  with  the  deepest  interest 
and  with  great  delight." 
A  Presbyterian  minister  writes  of  it : 

"  Anything  so  suggestive  of  noble  spiritual  ideals  as  this  book 
is,  should  be  gratefully  welcomed  by  every  one  who  is  working 
for  humanity's  uplifting  and  regeneration." 
Address  Swedexborg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
4 


Publications  of  the  Sicedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  NEW  VIEW  OF  HELL ;  Showing  its  Nature,  Where- 
abouts, Duration,  and  How  to  Escape  it. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
215  pp.,  5X7  inches  j  cloth-bound  ;  price,  50  cts. 

CONTEXTS. 

L  The  New  Dispensation.  II.  The  Old  Doctrine  of  Hell.  III.  The  New 
View.  IV.  The  Scripture  Argument— SbeCl,  Hades,  Gehenna,  and  the 
Lake  of  Fire.  V.  Hell,  the  chosen  Home  of  all  who  go  there.  VI. 
The  Duration  of  Hell.  VII.  Some  Evidence  of  its  Duration — Philo- 
sophical and  Scriptural.  VIII.  Why  cannot  the  Ruling  Love  be 
changed  after  Death?  IX.  Displays  of  the  Diviue  Benignity  in  Hell. 
X.  Is  Hell  to  undergo  any  Change  ?  If  so,  of  what  Nature  ?  XI.  The 
Devil  and  Satan.  XII.  Practical  Bearings  of  the  Question.  XIII. 
How  to  Escape  Hell. 

"A  succinct  and  intelligent  statement  of  Swedenborg's  doc- 
trine of  retribution.  It  contains  .  .  much  that  is  profoundly 
true,  and  much  that  is  exceedingly  suggestive." — New  York 
Independent. 

"A  really  valuable  contribution  to  the  world's  stock  of  reli- 
gious ideas.  .  .  As  a  whole,  it  is  of  groat  interest,  and  we 
commend  it  to  our  readers  as  worthy  of  attentive  perusal." — 
New  York  Sun. 

"There  is  not  a  Christian  man  or  woman  in  the  world,  who 
would  not  be  benefited  by  the  reading  of  this  book." — West- 
field  News- Letter. 

"In  'The  New  View  of  Hell '  is  put  forth  one  of  the  most 
striking  and  pregnant  of  Swedenborg's  thoughts — that,  too, 
whose  influence  on  orthodoxy  has  been  most  observable — his 
conception  of  Hell  as  a  state,  not  a  place,  and  as  such,  the 
chosen  home  of  all  who  go  there." — New  York  Evening  Mait. 

LETTERS  ON  THE  FUTURE  LIFE.    Addressed  to  Henry 
Ward  Beecher. 
Bt  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
191  pp.,  41  X  "  inches  ;  price,  50  els. 
"  A  small  volume  with  a  great  deal  in  it."  —  The  Golden  Age. 
"  A  grand  and  impressive  statement  of  the  New-Church  doc- 
trine of  the  Future  Life,  eminently  calculated  to  enlighten  and 
interest  the  general  reader." — New- Church  Independent. 
Address  Swedexboru  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
5 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  QUESTION,  What  are  the  Doctrines  of  the  New 
Church?  ANSWERED. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
256  pp.,  4X6  inches  ;  price,  30  cts.,  cloth  ;  15  cts.,  board. 
Sixth  Edition. 

The  views  of  the  New  Church  on  all  the  principal  points  of 
Christian  Theology,  are  clearly  stated  and  explained  in  this 
work.    Among  others,  on  the  following: — 

The  Character  of  God— The  Divine  Personality— The  Incarnation  of  the 
Divine — God  Accommodated  to  our  Needs — The  Divine  Trinity,  its 
Nature— Humanity  Glorified— The  New-Church  Doctrine  of  Atone- 
ment—Sin: Da  Nature—  Remission  ot'Sins— Redemption— Salvation— 
The  Doctrine  of  the  Cross— The  Blood  of  Christ:  What  it  Symbolizes 
—"The  End  of  the  World"— The  Second  Coining  of  the  Lord— The 
Sacred  Scriptures— The  Key  that  Opens  the  Scriptures— The  True 
Religion— Free-will— Repent anei — Regeneration— Charity,  Faith  and 
Works— Prayer— Divine  Providence— Spiritual  Spheres— Catholicity- 
Marriage  and  the  Sexes— The  Resurrection— The  Rationale  of  Spirit- 
Seeing— Heaven:  its  Nature,  Phenomena,  Laws,  Societies,  Occupa- 
tions, Happiness,  Etc.— Hell:  its  Nature,  Duration,  Deviltries,  Mis- 
eries, Etc. — The  Connection  of  the  Natural  with  the  Spiritual  World. 

The  following  is  what  intelligent  New-Church  minis- 
ters have  said  of  this  work  : — • 

"  The  work  is  the  most  beautifully  adapted  to  the  states  of 
those  outside  the  New- Church  organization,  of  any  I  have  ever 
read." 

"  I  am  delighted  with  your  little  work  on  the  '  Doctrines  of 
the  New  Church.'  I  think  it  would  not  be  easy,  if  indeed 
possible,  to  write  a  book  better  adapted  to  do  efficient  service 
among  candid  inquirers." 

"The  end  aimed  at  in  the  preparation  of  this  work  has,  in 
my  opinion,  been  most  admirably  accomplished.  I  wish  the 
press  would  pour  forth  multiplied  thousands  of  it,  so  that  a  copy 
could  be  lodged  in  every  home." 

"A  compact  statement  of  the  New-Church  doctrines  in  as  few 
words  as  it  is  possible  to  put  it.  The  best  book  yet  produced 
to  put  into  the  hands  of  people  who  ask  you,  '  What  do  you 
believe? '  " 

And  a  Baptist  minister  writes  : — 

"Your  work  on  'The  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church'  is  a 
deeply  interesting  volume,  and  cannot  fail  to  perform  an  im- 
portant use  in  the  Lord's  kingdom.    I  think  it  is  just  the  book 
needed  for  colleges  and  seminaries." 
Address  Swedenborg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  BIBLE:  Its  True  Character  and  Spiritual  Meaning. 
By  Rev.  L.  P.  MERCER. 
185  pp.,  4  X  6  inches;  price,  30  cts. 
'    Fourth  Edition. 

CONTENTS. 

I.  The  RP.ile  :  a  Book  of  Divine  Parables— II.  The  Doctrine  of  Correspond- 
ence :  a  Key  to  Divine  Parables — III.  The  Law  of  Divine  Inspiration 
—IV.  The  History  of  Revelation— V.  The  Real  and  Apparent  in  the 
Scripture — VI.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Spiritual  Sense :  The  only  Answer 
to  Skeptical  Objections. 

"  The  fundamental  conception  running  through  this  thought- 
ful treatise  is  one  of  the  utmost  interest  and  importance.  The 
careful  perusal  of  it  will  do  any  candid  student  of  God's  Word 
lasting  good." — Chicago  Advance. 

"This  book  is  worthy  of  taking  a  front  rank  among  the  col- 
lateral writings  of  the  New  Church.  It  is  the  most  clear  and 
forcible  and  comprehensive  popular  treatment  of  the  subject 
that  our  literature  affords." — A'.  /.  Messenger. 

"  Mr.  Mercer's  book,  even  to  those  who  wiil  decline  to  accept 
its  teachings,  will  still  have  uncommon  value  and  interest.  It 
will  enable  the  reader  to  form  a  more  intelligent  idea  of  what 
Swedenborgianism  is,  than  the  vague  notion  most  people 
have." — Chicago  Standard. 

"This  little  manual  gives  the  spiritual  significance  and  cor- 
respondence of  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  held  by 
Swedenborgians.  It  is  interesting  as  an  authentic  exposition 
of  the  views  of  quite  a  large  body  of  sincere  Christians." — 
Zion's  Herald. 

"A  book  worthy  of  a  careful  reading  by  all,  and  especially 
by  those  who  are  studying  the  Sacred  Writings  with  a  view  to 
getting  a  higher  understanding  of  their  teaching." — Indianap- 
olis limes. 

"A  perusal  of  this  book  cannot  fail  to  interest  those  who  wish 
to  be  informed  concerning  the  teachings  of  a  most  remarkable 
man,  and  the  beliefs  of  a  rapidly  growing  sect.  There  is  much 
in  these  views  that  must  appeal  to  every  thoughtful  mind." — 
Bucks  County  Intelligencer. 

"This  neat  volume  has  for  its  object  the  presentation  of  the 
teaching  of  Swedenborg  concerning  the  Scriptures.    .    .  The 
book  deserves  a  wide.sale." — New  England  Observer. 
Address  Swedenborg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  GOLDEN  CITY. 

Second  Edition,  Revised  and  Enlarged. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 

311  pp.,  5\  X  7  inches  ;  price,  50  cts.,  cloth  ;  25  cts.,  stiff  paper 
covers.    To  ministers  and  theological  students,  35 
cts.,  cloth  ;  and  20  cts.,  paper  covers. 

"  We  believe  this  is  the  most  important  book  concerning  the 
New  Church  which  has  been  written  for  years.  Its  extensive 
circulation  in  and  out  of  the  New-Church  organization,  would 
do  very  great  good.  It  would  tend  to  rescue  us  from  the  sec- 
tarian feeling  which  there  is  but  too  great  reason  to  fear  has 
been  growing  upon  us  within  a  few  years;  and  .  .  would 
bring  back  our  minds  to  clearer,  more  exalted  and  truthful  con- 
ceptions of  the  real  nature  and  object  of  the  New  Dispensation." 
— New-Church  Magazine  (Boston) — in  notice  of  1st  edition. 

"  The  work  will  commend  itself  to  liberal  minds  of  every 
denomination — for  its  spirit  is  catholic,  its  views  comprehensive, 
and  its  temper  sweet." — Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

"The  work  is  from  the  real  New  Church  stand-point,  able  in 
execution  and  catholic  in  spirit." — The  Living  Way. 

"This  treatise  is  thoroughly  liberal,  and  will  undoubtedly 
contribute  to  popularizing  and  expanding  a  form  of  faith  that 
has  grown  quietly  without  such  a  valuable  help." — The  North 
American  and  United  States  Gazette  (Phila.). 

"The  volume  is  pervaded  by  a  large,  free,  and  truly  catholic 
spirit,  which  is  likely  to  render  it  acceptable  to  all  who  are 
striving  for  unity  without  uniformity  among  Christian  be- 
lievers."— Evening  Transcript  (Boston). 

"  Mr.  Barrett  has  written  and  published  numerous  works  of 
great  value  and  interest,  but  none,  we  think,  of  more  value  and 
service  than  'The  Golden  City.'  .  .  The  reader  will  rise 
from  its  perusal  with  a  broader,  more  catholic,  more  charitable, 
more  Christian  spirit. 

"In  a  supplementary  chapter  Mr.  Barrett  has  cited  largely 
from  the  writings  of  the  Hon.  Theophilus  Parsons  ;  .  .  from 
which  it  appears  that  Mr.  Parsons  and  Mr.  Barrett  are  in  com- 
plete accord  in  their  views." — A.  D.  R.  in  New-Church  Inde- 
pendent. 

Address  Swedenborg  Publishing' Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
8 


Publications  of  Vie  Swedenborg  Pub.  Assaciatioii. 


LECTURES  ON  THE  NEW  DISPENSATION;  designed  io 
unfold  and  elucidate  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
328  pp.,      X  7  inches  ;  cloth-bound  ;  price,  60  cts. 
Eleventh  Edition. 


CONTENTS. 

I.  Sketch  of  the  Life,  Writings  aud  Character  of  Swedenborg.  II.  "The 
End  of  the  World"— what  it  means.  III.  The  Second  Coming  of  the 
Lord — where  and  how.  IV.  The  Sacred  Scripture— veiled,  and  the 
veil  lifted.  V.  The  Existence  of  a  Spiritual  Sense  proved.  VI.  The 
Key  to  this  Sense  Exhibited,  and  its  Nature  Explained.  VII.  The  Key 
Applied,  and  its  Importance  Exemplified.  VIII.  The  Divine  Trinity, 
and  True  Object  of  Worship.  IX.  The  True  Doctrine  of  Atonement 
and  Regeneration.  X.  The  Resurrection,  its  Time  and  Nature— with 
a  Brief  View  of  the  Spiritual  World.  XI.  Swedenborg's  Intromission 
into  the  Spiritual  Work!  Explained.  XII.  His  Intercourse  with  that 
World,  and  his  Memorabilia. 

"An  admirable  work,"  says  The  Intellectual  Repository 
(London),  "for  making  one  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Church  [as  taught  by  Emanuel  Swedenborg]." 

"  Your  book,  '  Lectures  on  the  New  Dispensation,'  has 
awakened  in  me  an  intense  interest  in  the  revised  study  of  the 
Word." — In  a  private  letter  from  a  minister  (a  stranger)  to  the 
author,  1886. 

"Barrett's  'Lectures  on  the  New  Dispensation'  is  a  good 
and  useful  book,  which  has  probably  led  and  helped  more  new 
receivers  of  the  Heavenly  Doctrines  in  this  country  than  any 
other  single  volume,  except,  perhaps,  1  Noble's  Appeal."'  — 
Report  of  a  Committee  of  three  Intelligent  Newchurchmen,  1867. 


THE  DIVINE  WORD  OPENED ;  Memorial  Edition,  with  Por- 
trait of  the  Author. 

By  Rev.  J.  BAYLEY.  ' 
670  pp.,  5J  X  7  inches  ;  cloth-bound  ;  price,  75  cts.;  for  sale  by 
The  Swedenborg  Publication  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
9 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


SWEDENBORG  AND  CHANNING.  Showing  the  many  and 
remarkable  Agreements  in  the  Beliefs  and  Teachings 
of  These  Writers. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 

288  pp.,  b\  X  V  inches;  price,  50  cts.,  cloth;  25  cts.,  in  stiff 
paper  covers. 

Second  Edition. 


"A  valuable  contribution  to  the  prevailing  religious  con- 
troversy growing  out  of  the  protest,  by  our  most  advanced 
thinkers,  against  the  narrow  and  gloomy  views  of  Calvinism.'' — 
Daily  Graphic. 

"A  very  interesting  work." — Pittsburg  Commercial  Gazette. 

"Mr.  Barrett  has  prepared  his  interesting  volume  in  the 
spirit  of  profound  reverence  for  Swedenborg,  and  of  affection- 
ate admiration  of  Dr.  Channing.  In  many  cases  the  resem- 
blances which  he  sets  forth  are  of  a  striking  character." — New 
York  Tribune. 

"The  book  cannot  fail  to  be  of  absorbing  interest  to  thou- 
sands of  Christian  readers." — Mount  Joy  Herald. 

"  Under  fifty-seven  different  titles,  it  shows  how  Swedenborg 
and  Channing  agree  respecting  the  most  dominant  Christian 
truths,  by  pertinent  quotations  from  the  writings  of  both.  The 
book  is  thus  made  very  readable  and  instructive." — Christian 
Register. 

"The  spirit  of  the  work  is  excellent,  and  its  motive  com- 
mendable. ' ' — Congregationalist. 

"It  will  be  a  matter  of  interest,  and  probably  of  surprise,  to 
the  receivers  of  the  heavenly  doctrines,  to  find  in  the  writings 
of  Dr.  Channing  so  many  and  such  important  points  of  coinci- 
dence with  the  teachings  of  Swedenborg,  as  are  presented  by 
Mr.  Barrett  in  the  volume  above  named." — New  Jerusalem 
Messenger. 

"  Those  to  whom  I  have  loaned  the  work  are  delighted  with 
it.  I  consider  it  the  most  valuable  of  all  your  productions  ;  and 
it  will  be  read  by  people  of  other  denominations  with  more 
profit  to  themselves  than  any  work  yet  written  by  a  Newchurch- 
man." — In  a  letter  to  the  author  from  a  Western  Judge. 

Address  Swedenborg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
10 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  CORRESPONDENCES  ELUCIDATED. 

The  Key  to  the  heavenly  meaning  of  the  Scriptures. 

By  Rev.  EDWARD  MADELEY  ;  edited  by  his  son. 

Revised  and  greatly  enlarged  by  B.  F.  BARRETT.    With  a 
complete  Index  of  subjects  and  Scripture  passages. 

742  pp.,  5$  X  8  inches.    Extra  Cloth. 

Price,  $1.50.    To  ministers  and  theological  students,  $1.00,  if 
ordered  of  the  Swedenborg  Publishing  Association. 
Fourth  Edition. 

The  most  complete  and  exhaustive  treatise  on  this  subject 
ever  published.  No  earnest  seeker  after  spiritual  truth,  and 
especially  no  minister  or  theological  student,  should  be  without 
this  valuable  Key  to  the  heavenly  meaning  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  late  Rev.  E.  Paxton  Hood,  a  well-known  English  author 
of  the  evangelical  school,  testifies  to  the  value  of  the  Science  of 
Correspondences,  in  language  as  follows: 

"  The  Bible  is  written  from  Appearances  and  Correspond- 
ences. How  can  the  Book  be  at  all  understood  unless  this  be 
considered?  .  .  Swedenborg  removes  the  veil;  and  truly 
wonderful  it  is  to  find  how,  by  this  principle  of  interpretation 
[Correspondence],  the  most  opposite  passages  of  the  Sacrnd 
Book  are  found  to  have  consistency  and  coherence  ;  the  mind 
of  the  Book  becomes  more  plain  and  clear.  .  .  There  is  a 
spirit  as  well  as  a  letter  in  the  Word  of  Truth."' — Swedenborg  : 
A  Biography  and  an  Exposition,  pp.  369,  '84,  '85. 

"'The  Science  of  Correspondences  elucidated'  is,  in  my 
estimation,  the  most  important  book  that  has  been  published 
for  a  long  time.  .  .  Every  New- Church  family  should  have 
it.  It  is  second  to  none,  in  daily  practical  usefulness,  but  the 
Writings  themselves.  The  Bible  is  a  casket  of  jewels  ;  the 
Science  of  Correspondences  is  the  Key  to  the  casket.  This 
book  teaches  how  to  use  the  Key.  .  .  It  is  the  only  one  of 
anything  like  its  kind  in  the  field." — A  New-Church  Minister 
— in  a  letter  to  the  Editor. . 

"Will  you  please  send  a  copy  of  the  'Science  of  Corres- 
pondences elucidated  '  to  Rev.  — — ,  D.D.,  of  , 

with  my  name  on  the  wrapper  or  in  the  book,  and  send  bill  to 
me.  I  think  it  admirable.  I  wish  I  had  money  to  send  a  copy 
to  every  minister  in  the  land." — .4  Baptist  Minister — in  a 
private  letter  to  the  Editor. 

Address  Swedenborg  Pcblishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
11 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


PROGRESSIVE  THOUGHT  ON  GREAT  SUBJECTS. 

By  Rev.  N.  F.  RAVLIN,  Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church, 

San  Jose,  California. 
206  pp.,  4x6  inches;  price,  30  cts.    In  paper  covers,  with  an 
Appendix  (15  pp.)  by  B.  F.  BARRETT,  12  cts.,  post-paid. 

CONTENTS. 

I.  Tripersonalism,  Contrary  to  Reason  and  Revelation.  IT.  The  Atonement 
in  no  Sense  "  Vicarious."  III.  The  Ascension  and  Mediation  of  Christ. 
IV.  Death  and  Resurrection.  V.  The  Second  Coining  of  Christ.  VI. 
The  Judgment  Day.  VII.  The  Prime  Kssentials  of  Christianity. 
VIII.  What  is  "  Evangelical  Religion  "  ?  IX.  The  only  Law  of  Chris- 
tian Living.  Addkndum  (to  New  Edition);  "Is  the  New  Church 
Evangelical?"   By  Rev.  Julian  K.  Smyth. 

In  the  Preface  to  this  work,  the  author  says : 
"The  following  discourses  are  the  result  of  breaking  loose 
from  ecclesiastical  bondage,  and  following  the  guidance  of  the 
Lord  in  the  investigation  of  truth.  .  .  .  The  author  has  been 
greatly  helped  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  Bible,  by  a 
study  of  the  writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  [and  several  of 
his  expositors,  whom  the  author  names].  For  many  years  he 
was  blinded  by  a  deep-seated  prejudice  against  him  and  his 
teachings.  He  judged  and  condemned  them  without  a  hearing. 
He  utterly  refused  to  investigate  their  claims,  or  even  to  give 
them  a  respectful  consideration.  Finally  God  took  away  the 
prejudice  ;  and  never  has  any  other  writer  so  completely  lifted 
the  veil  that  obscured  the  ineffable  glory  of  the  Word." 

This  work  has  induced  many  ministers  to  institute  a 
thorough  inquiry  into  the  New  Theology. 
An  Episcopal  minister  writes  the  editor  : 
"  Some  person  has  sent  me  '  Progressive  Thought  on  Great 
Subjects.'  .  I  am  much  interested  in  the  book,  .  and  should 
be  glad  to  have  any  other  books  on  the  questions  at  issue." 
A  Baptist  minister  writes  : 

"  I  have  been  much  pleased  and  instructed  in  reading  '  Pro- 
gressive Thought.'  .  .  Please  send  catalogue  of  your  pub- 
lications to  one  who  desires  to  know  our  blessed  Master's 
revelation  better,  and  thereby  be  better  equipped  for  his  work." 

A  Presbyterian  minister  writes  : 

"  Recently  a  small  book,  entitled  "  Progressive  Thought  on 
Great  Subjects,'  fell  into  my  hands,  which,  upon  close  perusal, 
has  awakened  an  intense  desire  to  know  more  about  the  views 
which  E.  Swedenborg  held  and  taught." 

And  many  others  have  written  in  a  similar  vein. 
12 


Publications  of  the  Swcdenborg  Pub.  Association. 


LETTERS  ON  SPIRITUAL  SUBJECTS:  In  Answer  to  In- 
quiring Souls. 
By  Dr.  WM.  H.  HOLCOMBE. 
405  pp.,  5 j  X  7  inches  ;  cloth-bound  ;  price,  75  cts. 
"Two  or  three  ministers  in  whom  the  new  life  is  working 
death  to  the  old  forms,  have  been  deeply  moved  by  Dr.  Hol- 
combe's  last  article;  and  one  of  them,  whose  name  is  familiar 
throughout  this  country  and  England,  begged  me  to  get  the 
whole  series  for  him.    '  I  have  been  strangely  quickened,'  he 
said,  'by  Dr.  Holcombe's  words.    The  only  real  spiritual  pab- 
ulum I  get,  comes  from  this  direction.'    This  man  is  a  leader 
in  a  great  denominational  body,  and  the  centre  of  one  of  the 
widest  movements  of  the  present  day." — From  a  Private  Letter 
—  by  permission. 

An  intelligent  Newchurchman  says  : 

"After  a  careful  reading  of  these  Letters,  I  cannot  resist  the 
conviction  that  they  make  one  of  the  most  instructive,  practical, 
and  soul-searching  volumes  that  has  ever  been  given  to  the 
religious  world.  They  exhibit  with  a  clearness  and  fulness, 
rarely  if  ever  equalled,  the  real  nature  of  the  Second  Advent, 
and  the  nature  of  that  new  and  higher  life  which  the  regenerate 
receive  from  the  Lord." 

LETTERS  ON  THE  DIVINE  TRINITY:  addressed  to  Henry 
Ward  Beecher. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
A  New  and  Enlarged  Edition.    160  pp.,  4f  X  7  inches  ;  large 
type  ;  cloth-bound  ;  price,  50  cts. 

CONTENTS. 

I.  Tri-persolialism  and  its  Logical  Consequences.  II.  Where  to  Look  for  an 
Imageof  the  Divine  Trinity.  III.  The  Trinity  in  Man  Explained.  IV. 
Further  Evidence  and  Illustrations.  V.  Practical  Bearings  of  the 
New  Doctrine.  VI.  Scripture  Confirmation— Meaning  of  Father  and 
Son.  VII.  More  Scripture  Testimony— Meaning  of  the  Holy  Spirit- 
Conclusion.  Addendum. — I.  Historical  View  of  Trf-personaliam.  II. 
The  Popular  Doctrine— "A  Trinity  that  Mocks  Our  Keason." 

A  trenchant  but  friendly  criticism  of  the  popular 
doctrine  of  three  Persons  in  the  one  true  God  ;  and  pre- 
senting with  clearness  and  force  the  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  Trinity  as  now  revealed,  together  with  the  Scrip- 
tural and- rational  evidence  in  its  support. 
Address  Swedenboru  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
13 


Publications  of  the  Swedenborg  Pub.  Association. 


THE  TRUE  CATHOLICISM.    Revealing  the  Breadth  and 
Comprehensiveness  of  the  New  Christian  Church. 

By  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
177  pp.,  4  X  6  inches.    Price,  30  cts. 

cqnwbnts. 

I.  Different  Phases  of  Divine  Truth.  II.  Basis  of  Christian  Union.  III. 
Ancient  Ground  of  Church  Fellowship.  IV.  Believers  in  Triperson- 
alism.  V.  Believers  in  Salvation  by  Faith  Alone.  VI.  Further  Illus- 
trations. VII.  Believers  in  Modern  Unitariauism.  VIII.  Some  luav 
Prink  Deadly  Things  with  Impunity.  IX.  Truth  not  Truth  with  all 
its  Receivers.  X.  The  Gentiles.  XI.  Unity  with  Diversity.  XII. 
Catholicism  of  the  Gospel.  XIII.  Truth  a  Means,  not  an  End.  XIV. 
Conclusion. 

An  intelligent  New-Church  minister  writes  : — 

"  Whoever  has  been  led  to  think  that  the  real  New  Church  is 
narrow  in  its  spirit,  bigoted  in  its  character,  or  wanting  in  liv- 
ing soul-experience,  has  but  to  read  attentively  this  little  vol- 
ume to  learn  how  great  is  his  mistake.  .  .  .  All  Christendom 
should  read  the  book."  • 

Other  New-Church  ministers  have  written  in  a  similar 
vein ;  and  a  probate  Judge  in  a  western  district  writes : — 

"I  have  just  read  your  'True  Catholicism,'  and  consider  it 
the  crowning  work  of  your  life.  There  is  no  foundation  left 
for  my  little  pet  notions  of  sectarianism.  The  great  broad 
principle  of  charity  fills  the  heart  to  overflowing,  and  we  can 
recognize  and  fellowship  the  sincere  believer  in  every  land  and 
in  every  denomination.  .  .  .  Everybody  should  read  this  book."' 

An  Episcopal  minister  writes : — 

"  I  have  this  moment  finished  your  'True  Catholicism,'  and 
I  wish  it  was  in  the  hands  of  every  minister  of  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  Church,  and  of  every  member  also.  ...  I  ex- 

Eect  to  write  some  sermons  in  which  I  shall  largely  use  your 
ook.  ...  I  am  going  to  ask  my  brother  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministry  to  read  it.    I  am  confident  it  is  a  work  he  will  enjoy." 
A  minister  in  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  writes : — 
"  I  have  read  every  word  of  your  'True  Catholicism '  with 
great  pleasure,  and  can  think  of  no  more  forcible  expression  of 
the  effect  produced  by  the  reading,  than  this :  /  feel  lifteditp.  I 
wish  it  could  be  put  in  the  hand  and  heart  of  every  preacher  in 
the  land.    Could  it  be  distributed  as  widely  as  .its  charity 
reaches,  I  doubt  not  the  next  Congress  of  Churches  would  urge 
a  'movement  all  along  the  line.'  " 
14 


The  following  Works  will  be  sent  by  their  Author,  postpaid,  on  receipt 
of  their  price : 

THE  AVOIDABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE,  INSANITY  AND 
DEFORMITY,  including  Marriage  and  its  Violations. 

44G  pp.,  12mo.    Price,  $1.50. 

THE  WINE  QUESTION,  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  NEW 
DISPENSATION.  A  controversy  extending  over  a 
period  of  five  years,  in  -which  the  views  of  his  oppo- 
nents are  fairly  and  fully  represented  in  their  own 
language. 

By  JOHN  ELLIS,  M.D. 
736  pp.,  12mo.    Price,  $1.00. 
Of  this  latter  work  the  New-  Church  Independent  say? : 

•'  It  is  the  most  complete,  exhaustive  and  valuable  treatise  on 
one  of  the  greatest  questions  of  these  New  Times,  that  has  ever 
been  published  on  either  continent.  .  .  There  is  no  phase 
of  the  subject  which  the  author  has  not  thoroughly  considered  ; 
no  authorities  worth  mentioning  that  he  has  not  studied  and 
quoted ;  no  objections  to  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicants 
as  beverages,  which  he  has  not  fully  and  fairly  met ;  no  historic 
facts  concerning  the  two  kinds  of  wine  (fermented  and  unfer- 
mented),  which  he  has  not  collected  and  presented  ;  no  valuable 
statistics  illustrating  and  enforcing  his  argument,  which  he  has 
not  gathered  and  utilized."    "  Should  be  in  every  library."' 

SKEPTICISM  AND  DIVINE  REVELATION. 

By  JOHN  ELLIS,  M.D. 

(Including  also  his  "Address  to  the  Clergy.'') 

288  pp.,  12mo.    Price,  20  cts.  (paper  cover). 

This  work  has  proved  to  be  very  effective  in  calling  the 
attention  of  inquiring  minds  to  the  writings  of  the  New  Church, 
and  awakening  an  interest  in  their  teachings.  It  consists  of  "4 
chapters,  about  one-half  of  which  has  been  compiled  from  the 
works  of  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  intelligent  New-Church 
writers  in  England  and  America.  The  extracts  are  judiciously 
made,  and  woven  together  with  such  skill  and  judgment  as  to 
give  the  reader  a  clear  idea  of  the  principal  doctrines  of  the 
New  Christianity. 

Address  Dr.  John  Ellis, 

157  Chambers  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
15 


FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  SAVIOUR.  Devotional  Studies  in 
the  Life  and  Nature  of  our  Lord. 

By  Rev.  JULIAN  K.  SMYTH. 
230  pp.,  4|  X  7  inches  ;  price,  $1.00,  cloth,  gilt  top. 

CONTENTS. 

The  Footprints — I.  The  Christ-Child— II.  The  Carpenter  of  Nazareth— III. 
The  Christ— IV.  His  Sympathy— V.  iris  Temptations— VI.  HisSanc- 
tity— VII.  His  Majesty— VIII.  His  Sacrifice— IX  His  Eternal  Pres- 
ence. 

"The  devout  and  honest  mind  will  find  great  wealth  of 
spiritual  meaning  in  this  pregnant  volume." — Boston  Herald. 

"  The  reader's  interest  is  sustained  throughout,  and  to 
earnest  souls  it  is  full  of  inspiration  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 
Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth  and  the  Life." — Boston  Even- 
ing Traveler. 

"This  book  should  be  hailed  with  joy  by  all  earnest  New- 
churchmen  as  marking  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  our  litera- 
ture."— B  in  New-Church  Messenger. 

"  Written  in  a  truly  religious  spirit, — a  spirit  of  love  to  God 
and  helpfulness  to  men." — Boston  Post. 

"The  devout  reader  who  enters  into  the  spirit  of  the  author, 
cannot  fail  to  be  uplifted  by  the  reading." — The  Advance  (Chi- 
cago). 

"Written  in  cordial  sympathy  with  the  religious  needs  and 
experiences  of  the  individual  soul.  The  author's  purpose  to  be 
helpful  appears  all  through  the  work." — The  Churchman  (Epis- 
copal). 

"No  Christian  can  read  this  book  devoutly  without  having 
his  faith  made  clearer  and  his  love  to  the  Saviour  increased." 
— New  York  Observer  (Presbyterian). 

"The  author  keeps  himself  for  the  most  part  on  the  broad 
ground  where  all  believers  can  meet  him,  and  read  what  he  has 
written  with  pleasure  and  profit." — The  Independent  (New 
York). 

"This  book  will  afford  a  spiritual  incentive,  strength  and 
comfort  to  many  earnest  Christians." — New  York  Tribune. 

"  We  have  set  down  the  author  of  these  discourses  as  one  of 
that  not  large  company  who  work  thought  into  the  mental  being 
of  the  reader." — The  Christian  Leader  (Universalist). 

"A  well-written,  stimulating,  and  helpful  book,  made  a  most 
tasteful  one  by  the  publishers.'' — The  Standard  (Baptist). 

Address  Swedexbokg  Publishing  Association, 

Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
16 


Date  Due 

< 

— i^s — 

9 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

